Writer’s climate change denial has long-term costs to Earth

Ralph Bush in his March 29 letter (“Climate change is an anti-capitalist plot”) cites three reasons why climate change is a hoax.

First, because Space and Science Research Corporation (SSRC) says that there has been no warming for 18 years. However, SSRC is a one-person entity run by John Curtis, a climate change denier who has no scientific credentials and has never published a peer-reviewed scientific article.

Next, he says there has been no deep-ocean warming. True, however, the upper-ocean waters are predictably warming dramatically, and it will take time for the heat energy to reach the bottom waters, and this has not shown up yet.

Finally, 12 tide gauges on Pacific islands over 16 years show no sign of sea level increase. However, this is an incredibly small data set over a very limited time in a narrow part of one of our five ocean areas. Worldwide measurements since 1870 show a continually rising sea level with a rate of increase now three times that in 1870.

Bush claims that climate change is a left-wing plot to take us away from capitalism. I suggest that denial is a capitalist right-wing plot for short-term profits at the long-term cost to our Earth.

This story was originally published March 29, 2016 at 7:07 PM with the headline "Writer’s climate change denial has long-term costs to Earth."