Editor:
In his Nov. 21 column ("Hot gases erupt from the legislature"), Tom Fletcher writes that “all left-thinking people insist” that the climate change debate is over, implying that climate change is an issue of values.
He refers to climate change “deniers” and “believers,” as if climate change is something one can choose to believe in, and he accuses NDP MLAs in the B.C. legislature of demonstrating their “nasty religious zeal” for the issue.
Of course the climate change issue is one of values, but only in so far as cancer treatments are an issue of values. We don’t debate whether or not we “believe in” cancer; however, if diagnosed with cancer, a person may choose their treatment, according to his or her values and beliefs.
Climate change is scientifically proven: a survey of 12,000 peer-reviewed (academic) articles on climate change published between 1991 and 2011 found that 97% agreed that human-induced climate change is happening.
Fletcher suggests that global average surface temperature trends over the past 18 years disprove climate change. He fails to mention that 2014 is set to be the warmest year on record and that the 30 years from 1983-2013 were the warmest in the past 1,400 years.
It is time to stop talking about whether climate change exists and time to start admitting that according to our values and beliefs, we differ on how we should respond to the problem.
Perhaps Fletcher’s “religious zeal” for the natural gas industry prohibits him from “believing” in climate change.
Vivian Bertrand