EDITOR:

In an Oct. 25 letter to the editor, “Climate change response,” the writer stated,“First, global warming is a great distraction and not a serious problem, it is a way to force us into global socialism.” The writer asked readers to review NASA’s website to “look up CO2 fertilization.” The writer called those concerned with climate change “Chicken (L)ittles.”

NASA’s website on climate change, https://climate.nasa.gov, sets out the evidence, causes, effects and solutions to climate change. A quick review of that site sets forth NASA’s findings and conclusions.

In the last 650,000 years there have been seven glacial advances and retreats attributable to variations in the earth’s orbit changing the solar energy absorbed by the earth. The present rise in the earth’s temperature is different. NASA writes, “The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is extremely likely (greater than 95 percent probability) to be the result of human activity since the mid-20th century and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented over decades to millennia.”The immediate cause of the raise in temperature is the use of fossil fuels that produce gases that hold heat in the earth’s atmosphere.

The fertilizer effect of carbon dioxide does cause plants to grow larger. A study by Berkeley Lab indicates that those larger plants do use more carbon dioxide but the extra carbon dioxide lowers minerals produced in the plants reducing their nutritional value. According to the study’s director, “Unfortunately, this increase is nowhere near enough to stop climate change.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CO2_fertilization_effect#cite_ref-5.

The effects of climate change will continue through this century and beyond. Temperatures will continue to rise, frost free seasons will increase, precipitation will increase in the northern US, other areas will see droughts more frequently and more intense, hurricanes will be stronger and more intense, the sea level will rise 1-4 feet by 2100, areas of the country will experience different effects such as droughts, flooding and insect outbreaks. In the Midwest we can anticipate “Extreme heat, heavy downpours and flooding will affect infrastructure, health, agriculture, forestry, transportation, air and water quality, and more. Climate change will also exacerbate a range of risks to the Great Lakes.”

NASA: “Multiple studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals1 show that 97 percent or more of actively publishing climate scientists agree*: Climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities.”

In a July 23, 2015 Department of Defense report the DOD specifically recognized the “reality of climate change.” I would like to think “Climate change response” is correct and that those who are concerned with climate are “Chicken Littles.” I do not want to be a chicken little. On the other hand I will not be the ostrich that buries its head in the sand. NASA and the Department of Defense are reliable sources. After reading the NASA website the conclusion one comes to is that we should change human activities that cause climate change.

Richard Clark

Escanaba