Where to find warming info

Joseph G. West (“The biggest hoax in history,” letters, Aug. 3) was right. I made a mistake in my previous letter of July 20 (“Emission reduction is essential”). John Coleman is not a retired weatherman; he is in his self-styled “retirement job.” I apologize.

But I also upset Mr. West by my reluctance to accept the claim, made in a “live radio interview” (therefore impeccable?), that climate change science is a massive hoax. At least I share my foolishness with good company, such as; the Bush Administration, Exxon-Mobil, evangelical groups, EPA, National Academy of Sciences in the U.S. and its equivalent in many other countries, the overwhelming majority of scientists actively working in the topic and, yes, the infamous IPCC.

These groups certainly don’t agree on the right social response. But they all accept the basic fact that human emissions of CO2 act to significantly warm the planet.

Every time an honest scientist or conspiracy theorist comes up with a plausible explanation of why CO2 won’t do to the climate what basic physics says it should, scientists look into it carefully. So far, they have found fatal flaws with each new theory.

There is no room here to go through all such cases. Instead, go to an excellent gateway web site at http://oregonstate.edu/groups/geco/pages/GECO_climate_change_myths_facts.html.

There, you can get rebuttals of climate change myths, simple primers on weather and climate, and detailed discussions of climate specifics. And use the “contact us” link on that page to get in touch with qualified local scientists. They will try to help anyone who is genuinely interested in the evidence.

Laurence Padman, Corvallis

Field burning is outdated

I have lived in the Willamette Valley my entire life and find it is time to change policies concerning field burning.

Farmers like Mr. Bowers (Aug. 10) comment we are a bunch of whiners. That is absolute nonsense! This is the attitude of people who do not want to change their practices of doing business the cheap way and who could care less for the other guy.

I think the practice has no place in a state that has a Department of Environmental Quality and continues to allow companies or individuals to endanger other people’s health to make money.

It is time for clean air and not let others continue to use outdated practices to dirty our air quality. The dinosaur died a million years ago. Let’s make the filed burns the same as a dinosaur — extinct!

Richard Hampton, Lebanon