The writer of the letter “Harris’ climate plans a scam?” (Sept. 14, TribLive), as a doctor, should know better. Contrary to his statements, sea level is rising, and glaciers are melting. The climate is warming.
He trots out that ridiculous right-wing talking point that when a cube of ice in a glass of water melts, the water level doesn’t rise. Of course it doesn’t — the cube is already in the water! Archimedes’ principle!
The better experiment would be to drop a cube of ice into a glass of water. Does the level rise then? Yes, big time. The glaciers (land ice) in Greenland and Antarctica are melting fast and draining into the ocean, and when they’re gone, sea level will have risen 224 feet. Plenty to drown our coastal cities. Worse yet, it is a runaway effect: As the glaciers melt and expose the soil beneath, the “albedo” (reflectivity) decreases because the ice is reflective of sunlight while the soil absorbs it, causing further warming. Still worse, due to thermal expansion, the warmer ocean water will expand and rise.
The Republican Party is beholden to the energy companies, which pay big bucks to “keep on burning.” They promulgate specious arguments that often sound good but don’t stand up to scientific scrutiny.
Climatologists and oceanologists are the experts, and the only thing they’ve been wrong about is that climate change is happening much faster than they predicted. But as they predicted — more frequent and intense storms, wildfires, etc. I wonder how anyone with kids can look the other way as our only home is being destroyed.
Al Duerig
Greensburg