Global Warming Shown Scientific Fact

This call for a reasonable approach to climate change is important because too many of us have confused our political ideologies and values with the scientific facts. For example, many people fear that responding to climate change might lead federal and state agencies to intrude too deeply into our lives. These are legitimate concerns, and we should hash them out in a vigorous public debate. After all, we have differing values and viewpoints about the role of government.

  Vicky Paris Goodman’s recent argument about unintended consequences (Nov. 26) makes an impassioned case against taxation, regulatory fees and government spending. Her political views are as valid as anyone else’s and she has every right to express them.

    But the same cannot be said for physics and her claims that human-caused global warming is a discredited hoax. The time has come to draw a very sharp line between the scientific evidence, which is incontrovertible and entirely non-partisan, and what we as citizens might want to do about the changing climate. As one eminent scientist is fond of saying, there are no Republican or Democratic thermometers.