Bob Van Velkinburgh responds to Todd Weiler's position on climate change

The following a response to Republican Todd Weiler's Davis County Clipper column titled, Is rising disbelief over global warming alarming or good?, was submitted by Davis County Democrat, Bob Van Velkinburgh. 

I know Todd Weiler and he is a pretty good country lawyer, but he is no scientist. Todd's article in the Davis Clipper, November 5, approaches the subject of global warming in a lawyer-like way. Quoting reputable journals and magazines is supposed to give credence to his argument that there is no such thing as global warming. Measuring temperature changes sixty years ago to support his idea of global cooling ignores the advancements in climatology technology. We cannot ignore the clearly evident changes we see in receding glaciers all over the world, the breaking up of the Antarctic ice shelf, and the dying coral reefs which are caused by increased acidity of our oceans (due to absorption of carbon dioxide). In 2001, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that the panel, consisting of hundreds of scientists and reviewers, "asserts with near certainty-more than 90 percent confidence-that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from human activities have been the main causes of warming in the past half century."

If nine out of ten doctors told you that you have cancer, are you going to believe that the one doctor who said you don't have cancer is right? Thus, if over 90 percent of the scientists polled confirm global warming and that it is caused by human activity, who are you going to believe? While Todd is entitled to his opinion, he is not entitled to his own facts. So Todd, don't quit your day job.

Bob Van Velkinburgh