Authorities unevenly matched

Terry Hoffman (Letters, Feb. 27) states that astrophysicists are “the experts” on climate change. In fact, the study of climate change encompasses a variety of scientific disciplines, including fluid dynamics, chemistry, oceanography, glaciology, radiation physics, geology, biology, paleontology and computer modeling. Some of the climate models developed using this multidisciplinary approach encompass thousands of years of Earth history.

Virtually every mainstream scientific organization in the world acknowledges that anthropogenic global warming (AGW) is occurring now with potentially deleterious effects.

A statement endorsed by 18 prominent scientific organizations in this country begins as follows: “Observations throughout the world make it clear that climate change is occurring, and rigorous scientific research demonstrates that the greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are the primary driver.”

In a recent poll, 97 percent of practicing climate scientists worldwide concurred that the Earth’s temperatures are increasing primarily because of the human production of carbon dioxide. (For more details, see skepticalscience.com.)

Mr. Hoffman summarily dismisses the virtually unanimous agreement among climate scientists that AGW is a reality. One wonders why he favors the opinions of fringe-group, anti-warming activists (often affiliated in some way with the fossil fuel industries) to the evidence-based conclusions of climate science experts.

Jack DeBaun

Sandpoint