To the editor:
I'm not sure where to begin in my criticism of Robert Kotala's uninformed letter on global warming. Global warming is a fact and the controversy is over how much is caused by human civilization.
The Arctic is melting at an alarming rate and the Greenland ice cap is shrinking. The warmer temperatures are beginning to melt the Arctic permafrost, which could release hundreds of billions of tons of carbon and methane into the atmosphere. Methane is 25 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. This produces a vicious feedback cycle, where warming causes the release of carbon from permafrost, which causes more warming, which causes more release from permafrost. Methane is also being released from the sea floor as the oceans warm.
Because of humans' insatiable need for milk and beef from cattle, the belching and waste produced by millions of cattle around the world contribute a significant amount of methane to the atmosphere. The number of coal-burning power plants is increasing around the world, especially in developing countries. This is increasing the rate of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere.
Another effect of ocean warming is increasing evaporation, leading to more humidity in the atmosphere and changing weather patterns. The whole water cycle is changing. According to the Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Research, "Natural variability from the sun, volcanic eruptions or natural cycles cannot explain recent warming." To think that human activity is not a significant factor in global warming is to put one's head in the sand.
Much of Kotala's letter contained irrelevant statements that have nothing to do with global warming. The paragraphs about Viking Era Norsemen and Josef Stalin were meaningless. To call global scientists and others "cultists" is an unnecessary ad-hominem.
Also, global warming is not a radical ideology that will destroy freedom and wreck the economy. The economy has already been wrecked by war and greed.
David M. Keranen
Bakersfield, Calif.