Was good start, but …

I must reply to the letter titled “That global warming” from Ray Hightower. In his opening paragraph, he credentials himself as having a bachelor of science in geology. I’ll see his BS and raise him with my master of science degree in geology.

He gets off to a good start summarizing the fact that climate change is a part of Earth history through geologic time, and reminding us that global warming obviously occurred during the end of the latest Ice Age. The northern half of North America and much of Europe and Asia were covered with ice during the Pleistocene Epoch; now it’s mostly gone. He also notes that sea level rose during that time. That’s increasing now.

Toward the end of Mr. Hightower’s letter, he mentions man-made (anthropogenic) global warming, referring to bonfires built by Neolithic people. He must know that any effect “cavemen” might have had on climate pales in comparison to what we’ve done since the dawn of the Industrial Age.

Unfortunately, it appears to me that he and some other geologists, as well as many other people, fall into a logical fallacy: that of false dichotomies. They feel that global warming must be due either to natural causes, or to human activities. They forget that both factors can act at the same time. Natural climate change happens, and we are making it worse. Much worse. The planet is warming at an alarmingly increasing rate.

Any responsible geologist should be sounding alarm bells about what’s coming. We should move cities and industry inland, develop new agricultural areas and practices, make our water use much more efficient, and finally reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Our children and further descendants are depending on us to act.

ART BROWNING

North Little Rock