Another case of cherry-picking data

The Republican Party’s apparent 2024 Presidential Election heir apparent standard bearer is former President Donald Trump. Regarding the relationship of ‘Global Warming’ to ‘cold’, Trump is quoted as having said: “It’s freezing in New York — where the hell is global warming?”.

This is one reason letter writer Scott Paulo’s hypothetical MAGA character(s) can state that, “Global warming is a hoax, because it gets cold sometimes.” Unfortunately, this viewpoint also appears to match poll results of the Republican Party faithful (with a 67% human-caused climate change denial rate).

No gaslighting here.

It’s useful to have a letter writer specifically refer to a source that can be followed up on and checked (‘Arguing against things no one ever said’, ER Opinions, 5/21/23). The writer recommends author Steve Koonin and his book, “Unsettled”, which contends that “it is uncertain how much human activity affects global warming. The case is unsettled.”

While it is true that author Steve Koonin was briefly President

Obama’s Under Secretary for Science in the Department of Energy for two of Obama’s eight years in office (2009-2011), it is critical to note that from 2004 to 2009, he was employed by BP as the oil and gas company’s Chief Scientist. Any book about climate change written by Koonin is very likely going to reflect the multinational oil industry’s perpetual ‘drill, baby, drill’ mantra.

Critics of Koonin’s book “Unsettled” have accused him of cherry-picking data, muddying the waters surrounding the science of climate change, and having no experience in climate science.

— Mark S. Gailey, Chico