Letters, Faxes, E-mails

To the Editor:
Pardon me for being a bit skeptical of Donna Schoenkopf’s letter to the editor (“Reliable data on global temperature goes back 160,000 years”). I think Donna has the 31,000 U.S. scientists, including more than 9,000 Ph.D.s in fields such as atmospheric science, climatology, Earth science, environment, etc. mixed up with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Islamic hardliners. In part, she said, “the scientists who have been offered as spokespeople against human-caused global warming are scientists who don’t believe in the Nazi Holocaust.” She went on to say that this group of scientists doesn’t believe that tobacco smoke causes cancer. She did say that she agrees with the “scientific method.” In my opinion, as a layperson, all things must pass the scientific method requirements for something to be considered as the absolute truth (a fact). The scientific method consists of the collection of data through observation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observation)  and experimentation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiment) and the formulation and testing of hypotheses (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothesis). In other words, you must observe it, form a hypothesis (theory) of what you observed and test the theory. And lastly, you must repeat the test and get the same results as the first time. When Donna said we have reliable data that goes back 160,000 years, how can that meet the “scientific method”? Was she there? The radiometric dating method itself (160,000 years) is based upon a chain of assumptions that are impossible to know; therefore, it can only be theoretical. What did rationalism from the ice core fractionation process tell us? Was the temperature supposed to be warmer at some point in the past? So what does finding a higher concentration of CO2 molecules somewhere in the ice cores really tell us? Does CO2 drive temperature change or does temperature change drive CO2 concentration? I do agree with part of Donna’s last paragraph: “There are wild fluctuations in weather.” Scientists are not sure about the effects of CO2. As world population increases, as more plant life is covered with asphalt or concrete, as more stuff we make absorbs more heat from the sun, our Earth should get somewhat warmer.
Howard W. Hall
Shawnee