Oregon senator cited imbalanced scientific view on global warming

[HuckleB]

Oregon senator cited imbalanced scientific view on global warming

The following is from a letter that 17 Northwest scientists -- including five on the faculties of Oregon universities -- sent to Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., responding to his Nov. 5 guest column, "Climate bill posed risks to economy."

Dear Sen. Smith,

We read your opinion piece in The Oregonian and believe that the reasons you gave for voting against the Climate Stewardship Act included some misrepresentations of the science of climate. We certainly agree with you that "nature is in a constant state of change." However, it is quite untrue to present the consensus view of climate scientists as evenly divided about whether current warming is entirely natural, as you did in your piece: "And our understanding of climate change is very limited. Some think automobiles and industrialization are to blame for Earth's current warming period. Yet, just as many scientists point to natural indicators -- from ancient tree rings to glacial ice cores -- as evidence that the planet regularly experiences both warming and cooling trends . . ."

A bit later in the piece, you state: "The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics reported that the 20th century has neither the warmest nor the most extreme weather of the past 1,000 years."

Three important points must be made in response to these claims:

For the complete piece: http://www.oregonlive.com/commentary/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1070628967241150.xml

[Lydia Leftcoast]

1. Why am I not surprised that Gordy

is toeing the Bush administration line?