Science yielding evidence of climate change

In light of increased public skepticism and disbelief about climate change, it is worth considering how science works and the role of scientists in explaining facts to the public as opposed to media spin.

George Will's opinion piece Feb. 23 spins the stupidity of "sacrificing wealth and freedom to combat warming." When Jefferson County legislators voted unanimously against offshore wind turbines (March 10) they expressed the people's disdain for unneeded wind turbines. Fortunately your editorial "Warming planet" (March 14) is right to note National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Science Director Jane Lubchenco's assertion that climate change is under way, and we'd better explain it well.

Science depends on skepticism, but is backed by facts. Research is conducted openly and experts in the field review reports before publication. This open discussion has skeptically refined our understanding of everything from natural selection to shifting continents to climate change for many decades. It has led to our modern view of the world and modern technology.

Climate scientists can now sample ice layers from deep in Antarctica and Greenland, much like tree rings, and record a continuous record of nearly 900,000 years. The gases and isotopes trapped in the ice tell the temperatures and atmospheric conditions for nearly a million years.

Every temperature rise has been linked to carbon dioxide. Before humans began burning fossil fuels, temperatures and carbon dioxide rose and fell in synch. Now in a brief 100 years, we have added and are adding increasingly massive amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. No one has recorded levels as high as today's 390 parts per million in any of these ice cores. This is the science.

To pretend that continuing research on carbon dioxide's impact on ocean acidity, global temperatures, drought, infectious disease, forest decline or species extinction is a conspiracy is to stick our head in the sand. We need more science education during a time of crisis, not less. Our wealth and freedom are at stake. Fear cannot continue to guide us at either extreme.

Facts are necessary and action even more so. We will need every wind turbine and solar surface, every level of increased efficiency and conservation to bring us to a sustainable energy future. Our children and grandchildren depend on us.

Thomas B. Van de Water

Colton