Further to David Kempf’s May 2 letter objecting to “global warming alarmists,” and John Bos’ July 12 response, “My Turn: Earth will survive, but will we?” in which he states, “There is not space enough in this article to chronicle all the ways in which we Homo sapiens are jeopardizing future life on our planet.”
True. There isn’t nearly enough room, for sure. So for further, scientifically based, in-depth yet layman-friendly information on this subject, I strongly recommend the article, “The Uninhabitable Earth,” by David Wallace-Wells, published in New York magazine’s July 10 issue. It is available for free online by simply Googling the title and author’s name.
In my view, for anyone seeking a clear, up-to-date summary of our global environmental situation, this is required reading. The ongoing, raging debate over the “reality” of climate change has long reminded me of H. L. Menken’s brilliant remark, “It is very difficult for a man to understand something when his livelihood depends upon his not understanding it.” And while Mr. Kempf is correct that the earth is 4.5 billion years old, is this really the point?
Even if we could, who wants to live on a dead or dying rock, devoid of our magnificent biosphere? Mars, anyone?
As Detective Friday used to say in Dragnet, “Just the facts, ma’am.” Let’s all get the broadest, truest set of facts we possibly can on climate change. Then we can begin to think and discuss rationally what we can actually do about it.
Rawn Fulton
Bernardston