Letter: Majority of Canadians accept environmental reality

By Letter to the Editor on April 21, 2021.

Dear editor,

If a retired bird expert told you the regional bird population changed remarkably little in the last 30 years and then showed you a graph covering only 19 of those years, how much confidence would you place in his assertion? Considering what Lynn Thacker says in his March 26 letter, he and 54% of Conservative party delegates would rate it trustworthy.

Richard Lindzen, the retired MIT professor whom Mr. Thacker esteems, does exactly what our theoretical bird expert does in his 2016 PragerU video, albeit with temperature rather than bird count. A search for “Lindzen PragerU” leads to the video where you can hear the claim and see the graph within the first minute and a half. Putting “video from PragerU makes” into a search engine will find climatefeedback.org’s rebuttal to Lindzen’s science claims. (and the whole graph) The video Richard Lindzen (PragerU) debunked responds to the entire presentation.

Of course, the “let’s not accept the reality of climate change and do something about it” crowd does have other artillery in its arsenal. Most of the group has probably actually moved on from Lindzen’s “it has changed remarkably little” to “the climate always changes.” Analyses of claims that recent changes are solely natural show this view is fraught with the same problems Lindzen tries to gloss over – actual scientific evidence cannot support it.

People like Mr. Thacker correctly point out that we should approach what the Al Gores or Greta Thunbergs say skeptically. If and when they fail to accurately represent what the science reports they should be called out. However, as the above indicates, Mr. Thacker and his fellow conservatives are unwilling to hold those they favour to a similar standard.

Most leading politicians, including Erin O’Toole, recognize that most Canadians accept our present environmental reality, acknowledge its causes and want government involvement in doing something about it. This is even after considering Lindzen’s, Tim Ball’s or Patrick Moore’s offerings. A party basing its stance on such misrepresentations jeopardizes a number of votes in the next federal election.

Ed Dick

Medicine Hat

9
-8