We must respond to climate change

I'd like to respond to Richard Armour's letter in the Jan. 6 Fence Post. Mr. Armour refers to Al Gore and others who are raising concerns about global warming as "prophets of doom" and "climate alarmists" and complains that we are being asked to "give up our quality of life" due to forecasts based on "incomplete data taken from a 25-year slice of time."

In truth, the data is much more conclusive than Mr. Armour indicates. Hundreds of scientists from around the world have analyzed data going back much further than the past 25 years and have concluded we can either make changes now that will, indeed, require some sacrifice, or our children and grandchildren will very likely be left to deal with catastrophic climate change.

As Dr. Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research says, we have the ability to drastically reduce our carbon emissions, and what's more, it is our responsibility to do it.

Although there are many special interest groups who are doing all they can to write off Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as "doomsayers," the truth is that arctic ice and the glaciers of Greenland are melting even faster than the climate models predicted.

It is up to the public to pressure our political leaders to face this truth head-on and drastically reduce our carbon emissions. We can do it, but we have to stop attacking the messenger first.

Janet McDonnell

Arlington Heights