Dear Ms. Pesavento,
You continue to try and spread your extreme ideals through bias and misinformation. The documents you spoke of in your most recent column ("Too much faith in humanity," Dec. 8) states, "an unknown source leaked more than 1,000 e-mails and technical documents." These e-mails and documents were "leaked" by a source responsible for illegally hacking and stealing this information, which therefore has credibility issues due to the nature under which it was obtained. Furthermore the incident is still being investigated as to the credibility of the documents and the source of the security breach.
As for the facts of global warming, simple research conducted via the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Web site provides a plethora of statistics on the subject of temperature comparisons to the historical means. As stated by the data collected by the NCDC, "Evidence is mounting that the global climate is changing. The extent to which man is responsible is still under study." While the effects of man are under question, the simple statement that the climate is changing is not. By looking at the average global temperature from the years 1901 to 2000 in comparison to the yearly data from 1880 to 2009, the NCDC found that from 1880 to 1935 the average temperature was below the established: the lowest it was seen was at .4 degrees Celsius below the mean from 1907 to 1912. Then from the years 1935 to 1980 the temperature fluctuated about the mean. Since 1990 there has been a steady increase in the temperature. For the past seven years, this level has been .6 degrees Celsius above the mean. For the past 30 years the upper and lower bounds have not included the mean (since 1980). These are undisputed facts presented by a well-respected and official government institution that has been in operation during both political parties terms. The question should not be whether the temperature is rising, but what are the effects of it rising and how can we help prevent any damaging effects.
There is only one certainty: The human species developed under very specific geological climate conditions. If those conditions disappear, will we survive?
Luke Ricci
senior
off campus
Dec. 8
