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Skepticism of human-caused climate change is baffling

What baffles me is how people who continue to deny our contribution to global warming still believe that what we are experiencing is "normal.

What baffles me is how people who continue to deny our contribution to global warming still believe that what we are experiencing is "normal."

Joe Prins, a retired insurance salesman and obvious part-time environmental scientist, thinks everything is OK. Thank you for letting me know the obvious detail that major cities can be one to two degrees warmer than rural communities due to thermal release. I don't really think that this is really what we are discussing here, but nice try.

Joe mentions that we have had warming periods during the age of dinosaurs and the Minoan period, so this is just par for the course. He then goes on to cherry-pick research that doesn't even support his agenda.

The IPPC as well as the UK Royal Society (these are the sites he provides as research) do not, in any way, disagree that we are the issue. They state that if we do not keep global temperatures down to less than +1.5 C above pre-industrial era, that heat waves, flooding, droughts and vector-borne diseases affecting every corner of the globe will be the norm.

They also go on to detail ways that we can reduce our carbon emissions to stay within an acceptable range, including having the UK carbon emissions reduced to zero by 2050.

Most realize that we have had warming periods in our planet's history, but these happened over hundreds, if not thousands, of years in most cases (sorry, but volcanoes are a special circumstance). This was also a time when the Earth's flora could absorb this temporary excess carbon and return back to normal levels.

Pumping out CO2 at current levels is not sustainable. The belief that the changes to our environment in the last 140 years of industrialization are just normal cycles is irresponsible and ridiculous.

Thank goodness our youth can see past the smoke and mirrors people like you throw in front of them. If you are going to use research to prove your point, Joe, I suggest you give the full picture, not an out-of-context sentence or two.

For those who wish to read the whole story, I suggest (in fact, I encourage) you look up the UK Royal Society for yourselves to see the complete story Joe leaves out.

John MacDonald, St. Albert

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