I’d like to respond to some assertions Ed Surgan made [“Evolving And Changing,” Letters, 27east.com] in response to a letter I wrote.
At the expense of a possible replay of Mr. Surgan labeling me elite (they tell me my dad was an elite bartender, but that’s the closest to elite I can come), I’d like to respond to some of his misleading assertions regarding climate change.
He writes: “Our weather is evolving and changing. It always has. Man may have some impact on it, but it is far from scientifically clear that we can do very much to actually change the direction our Earth is going in.”
Clarification: Weather is a daily event that can “evolve” depending on climate impacts. In Mr. Surgan’s introductory statement, he seems to confuse weather with climate. Sure, it could be sunny today and rainy tomorrow, because weather does change.
The issue is climate, or conditions that persist over time; thus, we on Long Island live in a temperate climate zone. What is changing is the rapidly accumulating amount of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere and what that portends for a changing climate.
If he means that climate is changing and it always has, he is right. The issues are what is changing about it now — the causes, at what pace, and is it detrimental to our well-being and maybe survival [more].
