Editor:
A headline in The Guardian warns, “The stakes could not be higher’: World is on edge of climate abyss” and continues why the world’s top climate scientists are in despair. The Guardian asked nearly 400 top scientists what they felt about the future – reportedly they are terrified.
Even the Pope listened to the scientists. Interviewed on CBS, he stated: “There are foolish people. And even if you show them the statistics, still the fool will not believe.” He must have listened to the same scientists The Guardian did.
Conversely, I submit The Guardian could have as easily found nearly 400 top scientists who felt exactly the opposite, but balanced reporting is not the objective. Instead, spreading hysteria and sensationalism is.
It further substantiates a comment made by an insider that some of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change research is quite good. The problem starts when media sensationally misreports the findings and politicians act on these misreports because they neither understand the science or have a hidden agenda.
Undisputed, the climate is warming and has done so since the last ice age ended 18,000 years ago when New York was covered under two kilometres of ice. But even for the last die-hard “climate denier” there is a remedy, according to “Inoculating the Public against Misinformation about Climate Change” in the National Library of Medicine.
At the other end of the spectrum is climate anxiety and depression plaguing people and politicians alike. After all, the Town of Canmore has officially declared a state of climate emergency without understanding climate and following the herd.
But equally, as for the skeptics, there is professional help for the despaired in the form of psychologically treating climate anxiety. A sobering first step would be Climate The Movie: The Cold Truth and Michael Moore’s Planet of the Humans. All climate predictions are based on models and CO2 has been crowned to be council’s centre piece when, at best, it’s peripheral.
Regardless of where you stand on CO2, whether or not it’s the villain it is portrayed to be, it’s everybody’s privilege to personally believe whatever they want. Not so for Canmore council since their mis(sing) information results in millions of dollars spent for shadow boxing. Before spending any more money to save the planet, I suggest council view the above videos and justify their position.
Dieter Remppel,
Canmore