LETTERS: GLOBAL-WARMING LEVERAGE IS SCARY

To the editor:

Global warming: Is it just me, or is anyone else uncomfortable about the way this is all unfolding? I feel like I'm strapped to a railroad track watching a train bear down on me filled with screaming zealots, each reaching for a lever marked "Global Warming." I don't have a warm, fuzzy feeling about what they intend to do if they get their hands on the leverage this issue may afford.

For those of you who take global warming seriously and who have the purest of intentions regarding a solution to the problem, please understand that most Americans don't share your passion, and some of us are downright skeptical. The concept that we understand and can control atmospheric -- indeed, biospheric -- dynamics well enough to require specific action now in order to forestall outcomes predicted for 100 years from now is a tough one for humble people to grasp.

The track record of behavioral cudgels masquerading as broad and dire scientific predictions is spotty. The fossil-fuel crisis has simply not materialized. Global food supply is adequate, though distribution often is not. AIDS is not going to kill everyone, though the reality of the disease is that it is both harsh and indifferent. In this case we're being asked to believe predictions of the outcome of biosphere responses 50 to 100 years from now. Incredulous doesn't begin to describe my reaction. The point is that scientific predictions no longer impress us as much as they once did. When you couple that fact with emerging remarks concerning the need to rapidly increase gas taxes, mandate sharply higher fuel efficiency, tax industrial emissions at much higher rates and modify all sorts of human behavior, don't expect wildly enthusiastic support. Before you reach for my wallet or price beef out of my reach by restricting supply (it's a flatulence thing, folks ), you'd best stuff some reality in your credibility box.

I still don't know if global warming is a fact. If it is a fact, I still don't know if it's us or a low-frequency natural cycle to which we may contribute but cannot significantly mitigate. I do know that name taking and blame placing have already started. I do know that the issue (rather than the facts) offers leverage that many will try to use to advance long-cherished social and economic goals. I do know that the latter scares me a lot more than the prospect of global warming.

BOB RATHBURN

Piedmont