Uninformed letters shouldn't be published

It is difficult enough these days to find consistent, responsible climate change coverage in the Daily Herald, but apparently the editorial board thought having two letters from climate deniers on the same day to further muddy the waters was too good an opportunity to miss.

In our country, people have the right to think and say what they feel, whether or not those feelings are tethered to reality. But newspapers have no obligation to publish the uninformed ravings of people who do not care enough about an issue to learn before they speak, especially when what these individuals say is demonstrably and factually untrue.

Jim Thompson's letter, abetted Ms. Thorner, repeats the nonsense that because the climate has changed repeatedly over earth's history, contemporary global warming is "not obvious" and that "climate cultists ignore the facts," thereby conveniently setting aside public statements to the contrary by almost every national academy of science and scientific organization on earth. They also pay scant attention to the ever rising temperature of the earth's atmosphere, land surfaces and oceans verified by scientists worldwide in venues available to anyone with the curiosity and fairness of mind to get their facts straight.

While individuals may embrace falsehoods that protect their ideological cocoons, newspapers like the Daily Herald have no inherent obligation to support their efforts. We may disagree about the science behind global climate change warnings, and we may imagine different solutions to the problem, but public pronouncements in the media should be scrutinized by responsible editors to assure they are both fair and do not invent or ignore facts readily available to the public.

These two letters do neither of these things, and the Daily Herald's publishing of them is a disservice to the truth.

Steve Bogaerts

Rolling Meadows