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Letters to the Editor

Scientists Agree on Dangers of Warming

Dear Editor:

In the Dec. 1 issue of the Guardian, David Cerutti presents an insightful discussion of the science and politics of global warming. Many of his observations and general conclusions are certainly valid. However, he is far too lax regarding the scientific evidence, and he certainly seems to want to mislead the reader.

For example, he states at the beginning of his article: “The common perceptions of global warming amount to monstrous fantasies propagated by the mainstream media. The notion that global warming, if it occurs at all … is President George W. Bush’s fault is ridiculous.”

No one to my knowledge has ever suggested that Bush is solely responsible for global warming. What is he responsible for? He has ignored, denied and suppressed the scientific evidence and promoted global warming by (1) giving rebates to Hummer buyers while eliminating rebates for hybrid buyers, (2) cutting research budgets and incentives for the development of fuel-efficient vehicles, (3) cutting research budgets and incentives for the development of methods designed to minimize the need for fossil fuel consumption, (4) providing benefits to wealthy (contributing) ranchers who produce meat (which requires the excessive use of fossil fuels and is a major cause of the destruction of our forests worldwide), (5) acting in what he erroneously believes to be the interests of his corporate donors by relaxing pollution restrictions rather than representing the people of the United States, etc.

Professor Naomi Oreskes (of the UCSD history department, with a specialty in science history) studied 1,000 recent peer-reviewed, randomly selected publications written by climate change experts. She published her results in top journals as well as the popular media. In an article in the Washington Post, Dec. 26, 2004, titled “Undeniable Global Warming,” she summarizes her finding as follows:

“Many people have the impression that there is significant scientific disagreement about global climate change. It’s time to lay that misapprehension to rest. There is a scientific consensus on the fact that Earth’s climate is heating up and human activities are part of the reason. We need to stop repeating nonsense about the uncertainty of global warming and start talking seriously about the right approach to address it.”

The reality of global warming is not a perception or a fantasy. Scientists know what’s going on and it’s time to focus on the fact of global warming. It’s time for America to live in reality rather than a fantasy world.

— Milton Saier

Professor of Biology, UCSD

Public A.S. E-mail List Established for Students

Dear Editor:

I would like to inform you of a new opportunity for all students at UCSD to receive the e-mail correspondence between members of the A.S. Council. In an attempt to provide more openness on the happenings of the council, I decided to create a public e-mail list to allow my colleagues the opportunity to also receive this information. Furthermore, as current debate has risen regarding who may be allowed to join the A.S. Council e-mail list ([email protected]), I thought it would be a good idea to provide all students this opportunity, not just the people I may know.

Given this, a new public e-mail list has been established. Any e-mails sent to the “[email protected]” e-mail list will be automatically redistributed to the public list “[email protected]”. If any student is interested in the discussion taking place in the A.S. Council, they may self-subscribe to the public list by sending an e-mail to “[email protected]” with the message “add as-council-l” (the last letter is the letter L, not the number 1). They will receive a confirmation of this action. Similarly, if one no longer wishes to be on the list, the message would become “delete as-council-l.”

— Garo Bournoutian

Alumni Representative to the

A.S. Council­

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