Letter to the Editor

Re: The folly of climate change denial," Issue #3-2010, p. 10

It was extremely gratifying to read Dr. John Smol’s strong article. It is rare that highly respected and established scientists dare to make their opinions known in a public forum, and unfortunately those who do so don’t get the deserved support from their peers or society at large. Anyone who has had even a fraction of John Smol’s Arctic experience has to be puzzled by the blindness and virulence of climate change deniers, which I equate to some kind of bigotry. By training, scientists are sceptical about associating cause and effect relationships without adequate, scientifically defensible data. I find his analogy with the past reluctance to accept the human causes of acid rain very powerful and useful in teaching, more pertinent than the opposition to recognizing the association of cancer with smoking.

As a geologist with a passion for the Canadian Arctic and its people, I fully agree with Smol’s opinions, the magnitude of the problem for the next generations and the urgency for action; education of the increasingly science-ignorant society and political leaders is probably a most effective line of action.

Marcos Zentilli, PhD’74
Halifax, NS