In his letter to the editor, James Ault builds his case on popular expectations, not science (“Climate claims are fear-mongering,” Our Readers’ Views, Nov. 26). Bond markets, coastal real estate vibrancy, and job creation are indicators of various people’s beliefs, not real evidence of climate stability.
He confuses short-term weather patterns for long-term climate change. Scientific measurements, as reported by The Columbian last week, show that the world’s temperatures each month have been hotter than average for over 34 years. Despite the occasional “tranquil” summer, the trend is unmistakably hotter.
The 12-year “doomsday countdown,” presumably referring to the U.N. IPCC report, does not mean the world ends in 12 years. If we don’t cut our carbon emissions in half by 2030, and reach carbon neutrality by 2050, global temperatures will rise such that we will experience even more frequent and intense climate disasters.
What we see around us, and what climate scientists predict, should be a clarion call to everyone. We need to join our voices and insist that all of us — in our personal decisions, at our local government and at the federal level — make the changes needed to give our descendants the possibility of a livable world.
