We don't need costly response to climate

The Daily Herald reports that President-elect Obama has selected a "science team serious about changes in climate." And this will lead to "a more aggressive response to global warming." Translation: new taxes and increased regulations.

Maybe before these "leading experts on climate change" assume their new posts it would behoove them to step away from their computer-simulated weather models and stick their heads outdoors for a few minutes. It is discernibly cold outside and many meteorologists now believe we are in a cooling trend.

Climate change is a redundancy. Climate by its very nature is in a constant state of change. In the beginning, the earth was very hot. It cooled so significantly during one time period as to be covered with thick layers of ice. Then warmed enough to melt the ice. Are the esteemed professors aware that once upon a time Iceland was so named because it was covered with ice but is now very green? Conversely Greenland's climate changed over time turning it from being mostly green to being covered by frozen tundra. All this before worldwide industrial development and the dreaded SUV.

Andrew Ertmanis

Libertyville