Letter: It’s far too late for just talk
I am writing in response to Mike Kieler’s response to Cynthia Lepthien’s letter regarding a column by Jonah Goldberg. For the record, I look forward to reading Goldberg’s columns. While I don’t always agree, he is one modern conservative who actually knows how to think.
Mr. Kieler, you are wrong about the sky is not falling. It is, and we are way behind doing something serious about climate change. It may look like nothing has happened from our very local point of view, but trust me, we are in trouble. I’ve spent much of the past 30 years working on water issues in the Colorado River Basin and right now the outlook is pretty bleak. And climate change is at the heart of the current drought, the “new abnormal.”
I am sure that Dr. Koonin’s book will make an interesting read, although none of us will know until it is released on May 4. I’m sure he is a competent and able scientist and may actually know something about climate science. That doesn’t mean he’s right. I have ordered the book, so we’ll see.
For every single scientist who comes up with a new treatise attempting to refute the reality of anthropocentric climate change, there a hundreds, if not thousands, making the point that climate change is real, it is serious, it is human caused and that we are running out of time. Making such a claim is no more “screaming crisis” than grabbing someone’s arm as they blindly step in front of a speeding truck. There are not two sides to this story, anymore than there are two sides to the argument that the Earth is flat or that Copernicus was wrong. I’m sure a reputable scientist might be found to advocate for both those “arguments.”
Many people, including the climate scientists, have been trying to sit down at the table, with reasonableness and willingness to openly discuss the reality of climate change. Unfortunately, there has been a decades-long history of ideological and economic deafness to any such open discussion. There has been even more opposition to any kind of meaningful action.
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We can sit down and talk, reasonably and willingly, but it’s far too late for just “talk.”
Ken Neubecker
Glenwood Springs
