Scientific consensus

Mike Brown’s Aug. 4 letter opposes the idea of man-made climate change without actually coming out and saying so. Science has never pretended to be the absolute last word on truth. It’s about probabilities. When evidence stacks up and fits together, scientists regard the matter settled— for now. That is scientific consensus. It would take startling new evidence to shake the theories of gravity, plate tectonics, and evolution. Man-made climate change theory has been developing since the 1890s, accumulating a lot of evidence. Of scores of national science academies in this country and the world, none dispute that man-made climate change is occurring. Brown wants to know where the 97 percent figure comes from. Here is one source: climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus.

One need not see every scientist as a holy bearer of truth in order to be convinced that the climate is changing and that human activities are the major cause. Those insinuating that tens of thousands of scientists across the world have sold out or are perpetuating a hoax need to use the good sense they were born with. How could such a gigantic conspiracy remain secret?

And who would be paying all those scientists? Between them, the solar and wind industries command a pittance of the funds available to Big Oil. As developing industries, renewables need their money for projects, not propaganda.

Follow the money, and it leads to the oil companies, which are known to have spent millions in their disinformation campaigns. Don’t carry their water. CORALIE KOONCE Fayetteville