Max Wisotsky’s (“Climate Hysteria Lacks a Sense of Historical Perspective,” August 3, 2023) and Herbert Burack’s (“Get Real on Global Warming,” August 3, 2023) letters are a sign of their times. Mr. Wisotsky attempts to establish his bona fides by stating that he is a scientist. His credibility is immediately suspect and refuted by his ignorance of the subject matter in question. Information on climate history is discernible from a plethora of sources. Dendroarchaeology (study of tree rings) takes us back 13,000 years on six continents. Weather patterns, e.g., rainfall can be discerned from this source. Polar ice cores reveal 200,000 years of climatic history. Each layer of the core represents annual data. Gas bubbles in the cores can be tested for its components, e.g., carbon dioxide levels, among other data. Isotope studies on ancient seashells can also provide data. The accumulated data provides climatic information over an extended period of time. Mr. Wisotsky is, once again, operating in an informational vacuum.

Mr. Burack’s information is simply incorrect. The overwhelming majority of climatologists are in agreement on the human generated effects on climate. Scientists have warned for decades regarding the impact of greenhouse gases. We are having hundred-year storms on a regular basis. He is simply mouthing the speaking points of the fossil fuel lobby. The Heritage Foundation claims to have scientists who disagree but refuses to have them come forward, claiming their wish for privacy. He complains of the huge cost of responsible climate policies, yet conveniently overlooks the untenable cost to taxpayers of the huge subsidies for the fossil fuel industry. This includes a litany of tax breaks, e.g., oil depletion allowance, costing billions of dollars. A case in point: The cost of leasing government plots for drilling was just raised from the price set in 1920.

It is the larger picture that is the most pertinent. Climate science has been assimilated into the bankrupt culture wars by the extreme right wing. Science denial and a visceral rejection against anything deemed
vital by the “left” is their raison d’etre. The fossil fuel lobby no longer denies the existence of climate change; their message has magically morphed into a denial of any urgency in dealing with the problem. Temporizing and minimizing is their current strategy. This is unsustainable and those who deny scientific data do so at their own peril.

Earl Sandor

Teaneck