LETTERS: AMPLE EVIDENCE OF GLOBAL WARMING ALREADY EXISTS

To the editor:

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson attacked the Kyoto Treaty on Global Climate Change demanding scientific proof.

When our congresswoman demands proof from science, she displays ignorance. When politicians don't like the evidence, we often hear demands for proof even if a problem has been abundantly demonstrated scientifically. For years we have relied on the scientific endeavor and have made considerable progress. One element of the process we must understand, however, is that it does not offer proof. Yet science can offer much to those possessing a willingness to listen and an ability to comprehend. The process offers both evidence and the evaluation of that evidence by informed scientists. Scientific literature provides impressive and overwhelming evidence supporting the conclusion that global warming is here. No cause can be identified for this pattern other than the rise in greenhouse gases resulting from human activity. Global disruption most probably will only become more severe without a rapid and effective human response. The April 13 issue of Science carries two research reports demonstrating heating oceans and further substantiating the legitimacy of the climate models.

One wonders exactly how much evidence the skeptics want. If rising temperatures and sea levels, melting ice caps and glaciers, increasing catastrophic weather patterns and abundant seasonal abnormalities are not enough, what would be? Since there is no published scientific evidence supporting the skeptics, continued mindless and politically motivated denial lacks merit.

ALAN JOURNET

Cape Girardeau