Mail Call: An Article of Faith?

Todd Whiting

Via Internet

Extremely fickle weather events associated with climate change, resulting in greater frequency of droughts, floods and freak disasters, can no longer be ignored. Abnormally heavy torrential rains in Northern Europe, sweltering heat waves in Eastern Europe, monsoon flooding and landslides in Asia, snowfall in South Africa and unprecedented tropical cyclones are all telling reminders of drastic and unpredictable changes taking place in our interconnected, ever-shrinking world. In Asia, monsoon flooding has caused irreparable damage to poverty-stricken peasant farmers, destroying croplands, livestock and property, while raising fears of disease and new health crises. Heat-trapping carbon-dioxide emissions cause global temperatures to rise and polar ice caps to melt. The steep impact of global warming will be felt by everyone in the world. It's wake-up time—a concerted effort to heighten awareness and actively respond to this alarming crisis must happen now.

Charles Frederickson

Bangkok, Thailand

Your article on global warming's naysayers was informative. But some scientific evidence of its causes seems misguided. I recently read an article saying that photosynthesis is exothermic—it produces heat. Does that mean we should cut down all trees and stop growing fruits and vegetables and get rid of all algae in the sea to reduce heat produced by this process? I think not. How soon would the supply of oxygen start to diminish? So maybe the naysayers have reasons to question the "overwhelming scientific evidence" or reasons for climate change? You cited Hurricane Katrina as evidence of climate change. But what about last year's dire prediction of another horrific hurricane season? That was wrong. And you did not mention that.