To the editor:

In his recent Commentary, Jed Dukett cries foul when I accused him of claiming that climate change is a hoax. The climate change I was referring to “human-caused.”

I regret that I wasn’t clearer. I agree that climate change has been happening since the beginning of time but Mr. Dukett, once again, fundamentally mischaracterizes the role of greenhouse gases and the overwhelming scientific consensus on the cause of modern-day climate change and global warming. Here’s what his commentary ignores.

The current rate of global warming is significantly faster than historical natural variations; paleoclimatic evidence shows that current warming is occurring at a rate 10 times faster than the average warming at the end of the last ice age; and, unlike previous climate shifts, the current warming is primarily attributed to human activities, particularly greenhouse gas emissions.

And while Mr. Dukett’s observations about the role of sulfur pollution are generally correct, he overlooks crucial scientific context. Sulfur pollution did impact regional climate patterns in the mid-20th century but this does not explain the global warming trend observed since the 1970s and multiple independent lines of evidence confirm the role of greenhouse gases in current climate change.

Mr. Dukett’s conclusions about arctic sea ice are also misleading, at best. Here’s the facts: Long-term satellite data shows a significant decline in Arctic Sea ice extent and September Arctic Sea ice has decreased by approximately 13% per decade since 1979.

His assertion that CO2 is not a driver of climate change flies in the face of extensive scientific research. Basic physics make clear that CO2 and other greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere. Atmospheric CO2 levels have increased from 280 ppm to over 420 ppm since pre-industrial times and this increase directly correlates with human industrial activities and deforestation.

Mr. Dukett continues to suggest scientific uncertainty about climate change but more than 97% of climate scientists agree that human activities are causing global warming. Literally thousands of peer-reviewed studies consistently support the anthropogenic climate change hypothesis and, as I’ve noted previously, major scientific organizations worldwide, including NASA, NOAA and the IPCC, confirm human-induced climate change.

Finally, virtually all the reputable science supports the fact that global temperatures have risen approximately 1.1C since the late 19th century, human greenhouse gas emissions are the primary driver of this warming and the rate of warming is accelerating, with potentially severe consequences for ecosystems and human societies.

Beyond the science, it’s just plain common sense that we can’t continue to dump our waste into the air and water that sustain us. Notwithstanding Mr. Dukett’s arguments to the contrary, CO2 was classified as a pollutant by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2009 because it determined, based on a mountain of scientific evidence, that growing concentrations in the atmosphere were endangering public health and welfare of current and future generations.

Joe Martens

Lake Placid

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References

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[1] IPCC, 2021: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report.

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[6] Bindoff, N. L., et al. (2013). “Detection and Attribution of Climate Change: from Global to Regional.” Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis.

[7] Stroeve, J. C., & Notz, D. (2018). “The Arctic sea ice extent, thickness, and volume.” Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences, 24-33.

[8] National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis.

[9] Arrhenius, S. (1896). “On the Influence of Carbonic Acid in the Air upon the Temperature of the Ground.” Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, 41(251), 237-276.

[10] Tans, P., & NOAA/ESRL. (2021). Trends in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide.

[11] Le Qur, C., et al. (2018). “Global Carbon Budget 2018.” Earth System Science Data, 10(4), 2141-2194.

[12] Cook, J., et al. (2016). “Consensus on consensus: a synthesis of consensus estimates on human-caused global warming.” Environmental Research Letters, 11(4), 048002.

[13] Powell, J. L. (2019). “Scientists Reach 100% Consensus on Climate Change.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

[14] NASA. (2021). “Scientific Consensus: Earth’s Climate is Warming.”

[15] NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. (2021). “Climate Change: Global Temperature.”

[16] IPCC. (2014). “Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change.”

[17] Rockstrm, J., et al. (2017). “A roadmap for rapid decarbonization.” Science, 355(6331), 450-452

[18] Federal Register, 40 CFR Chapter I

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