Andrew Geisler’s Sept. 7 letter, “Innovate instead of regulate,” asserts that “Anecdotal evidence, not data, forms our understanding of the actual situation” of climate change. On the contrary, the conclusion of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of the likelihood that human activity is warming the climate is based on a data-driven modeling approach. The increasing confidence in this conclusion that is exhibited in the IPCC’s ongoing reports is based on data that are constantly being added to the modeling process from both current measurements and historical analysis.
The overwhelming support of the IPCC by the scientific community reflects the community’s understanding of the centrality of data to their work. Informed and timely debate on policy responses must not be deflected by misunderstanding of the science that provides our understanding of the potentially catastrophic dilemma we face.
