Climate change doubter seems doubtful himself

Donald Engels, in an April 15 letter to the editor, claims that NASA and NOAA have falsified evidence about global warming and we should look instead to writing by Dr. Roy Spencer. When we look at Spencer’s writing about global warming, we find he says “For some reason the climate stopped warming in the last 10 years, which is one of those dirty little secrets of global warming science.” (John Stossel Show on Fox)

In fact records show the earth has been warming at a steady rate before 1998 and shows no sign of slowing. Satellite data, ground- based weather stations, sea- buoys and even weather balloons all reveal a steady long-term warming trend. Spencer does admit there might be a bit to the global warming problem, since he does say on Ideas in Action that “It’s a little known fact that the extra carbon dioxide (and methane an especially potent greenhouse gas) emitted by joggers accounts for 10 percent of the Global Warming problem.” Who knew it was those pesky joggers who were contributing to global warming just by breathing out the same amount of carbon dioxide there was to begin with.

In commenting on his book “Fundanomics: The Free Market Simplified,” Spencer says “I view my job a little like a legislator, supported by the taxpayer, to protect the interest of the taxpayer and minimize the role of government.” I would say that protecting the interest of the taxpayer and minimizing the role of government don’t sound like activities of someone primarily concerned with scientific objectivity. So I’ll continue looking to NASA for information about global warming and leave Dr. Spencer to those whose interest is mainly political.

MARY ELSIE MARCHANT

Winslow