Skeptics sensible, despite 'denier' label
This is in response to Froma Harrop's column regarding the late reaction to global warming. I believe the debate is not over on the causes of global warming.
Harrop uses the typical bullying tactic of labeling people who are skeptical of humans as the cause of global warming as "deniers," which is to invoke the vision of Holocaust deniers.
Scientific hypotheses are meant to be tested and re-tested by multiple scientists.
If we are to end the debate, what is the use of the scientific method? We might as well surrender all sovereignty to the government because it knows what is best for us.
Harrop paints a picture of "deniers" by taking quotes from someone on the fringes (Pat Buchanan) and a "meteorologist" who has not published his findings in a journal.
What she fails to mention is that there are a large number of rational scientists who are skeptical of human-caused global warming or the extent to which humans cause global warming.
I don't trust Wikipedia as a primary source, but a list of unconvinced scientists with links to their positions can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scientists_opposing_the_mainstream_scientific_assessment_of_global_warming.
There are also many private citizens who either believe in or are open to human-caused global warming, but believe government and globalization are not the sole solution to the problem.
For example, individuals can take more responsibility for reducing their carbon footprints and create larger markets for environmentally friendly corporations through the laws of supply, demand and public pressure.
My fear is that government, in its infinite wisdom, will go to the extreme and I will have to make monthly trips to a local emissions testing facility, be subjected to price controls and strict rationing, and have the tax code used to punish rather than using tax breaks to promote breakthroughs. (See the recent SCHIP proposal of taxing smokers that are generally low-income earners to pay for medical insurance for low-income earners' children.) It is important to keep an open mind.
The debate was once about whether the Earth was the center of the universe.
John Witt
Lake in the Hills