Letter: Climate change, think again

Recently more than one letter writer has seriously suggested that climate change activism is merely a scam or plot to enrich former Vice President Al Gore.

If so, this would amount to a staggeringly intricate conspiracy on the part of the overwhelming majority of the world’s accredited climate scientists as well as many of the world’s politicians and civic leaders.

Following the money is a good idea, but whatever Mr. Gore may be earning for his efforts is chump change compared with what the big energy companies reap while paying industry shills millions to convince the public that the status quo is acceptable and nothing further need be done.

As the New York Times revealed April 25, as far back as 1995 scientists working for the oil and auto industries privately admitted that the human role in global warming was irrefutable, a conclusion those industries failed to report to the public.

The right wing’s successful vilification of Mr. Gore is the product of class resentment and anti-intellectualism cynically fostered for the gain of corporate conglomerates by media entities such as Fox News and Rush Limbaugh.

In reality, Mr. Gore has given our country decades of distinguished service as a statesman and a conservationist, calling us to global environmental responsibility in 1992 with his best-selling book, “Earth in the Balance.”

My one complaint about Mr. Gore is that he conceded too quickly after the Supreme Court called the 2000 election for Mr. Bush. If he and the Democrats had fought harder, we might have gotten an administration capable of preventing the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and avoiding the tragic and unnecessary wars that have sapped our moral and financial reserves for most of the past decade.

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Tags: letter to editor, climate change, al gore, opinion