Letter: No time to waste addressing climate

Thirty two years after the IPCC's (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) 1990 report on climate change, we are still arguing about whether the observed rise in the Earth's temperature over the last 100 years is due to human activity or unspecified natural causes. Back in 1990, the 250 or so scientists commissioned by the IPCC did something amazing that should give us pause.

Saying the rise was due to human activity, they stuck their necks out by predicting not only that the warming would continue, but that it would accelerate. This was at a time when the planet was as warm as it had ever been in history.

Then they even specified how warm it would become by now. Thirty-two years later, we know that their prediction was on target. Pretty impressive. Today, they predict that without intervention, the temperatures will continue to increase apace into the foreseeable future.

Maybe by now we should believe them. Or we can continue arguing and wait for another 32 years to see if they are still just as correct.

Craig Zabel

Sugar Grove