Clarity, facts about climate change
Regarding “Look, There’s a Squirrel” (Letters to the editor, Sequim Gazette, Jan. 24, page A-8):
Isn’t it easy to make a point using one reference/source? It seems as though this is the current choice for some people when trying to “prove” their point.
Rather than read from several sources (both for and against), to make an informed decision, they choose to find one person who agrees with them and hold that to be the truth.
What was not noted in this letter is that when MIT’s climate researchers and faculty discovered that (Richard) Lindzen had written to Trump, they wrote a letter to set the record straight (22 current and retired MIT professors).
They made it clear that, “this is not a view shared by us, or by the overwhelming majority of other scientists who have devoted their professional lives to the careful study of climate science.”
Another recent study (posted on Science Blogs, January 2017) lists the 140 national academies and top health and science organizations that have made declarations about climate change.
The author of the blog discusses the “Galileo Gambit,” used as a defense by the climate change deniers. It states, “Because Galileo was mocked and criticized for his views by a majority, but later shown to be right, current minority views that are mocked and criticized must also be right.
The obvious flaw in the Galileo Gambit is that being criticized for one’s views does not correlate with being right – especially when the criticism is based on scientific evidence. Galileo was right because the scientific evidence supported him, not because he was mocked and criticized.”
There is overwhelming evidence that climate change is happening; glaciers are melting, heat waves are more common, global temperatures and sea surface temperatures are rising.
These are facts, not opinion.
In an episode from John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight” (2014), he stated “you don’t need people’s opinions on a fact … it’s like asking … ”
“Which number is bigger: 15 or 5?” or “Do owls exist?” or “Are there hats?”
I feel fortunate to have elected local leaders who represent me, and they are representing my values, to protect the environment at all costs, so that we leave a better future for those who will inhabit our planet when we are long gone.
Kelly Mitchell
Sequim
Much thanks for shoebox donations
Operation Christmas Child thanks our neighbors throughout the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas for their generosity in filling shoebox gifts that are delivered to children affected by war, poverty, natural disaster, famine and disease in countries all over the world.
To the individuals, families, and groups who carefully chose each small gift for their shoeboxes– hygiene item, fun toy, or school supply–to the volunteers who collected the thousands of filled boxes and sent these treasured gifts on their way to distant lands, we thank you.
Through your efforts, more than 10,000 shoeboxes were collected from the Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas. Give yourselves a hand.
These children, many of whom have never received a gift before, learn God loves them and has not forgotten them. Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child, the world’s largest Christmas project of its kind, has collected and delivered more than 146 million gift-filled shoeboxes to children in more than 160 countries and territories.
Every day is a good day to fill a shoebox. You can shop online today to build a personalized shoebox gift at samaritanspurse.org/buildonline. If your shoebox is already filled, it can be sent year-round to Samaritan’s Purse headquarters at 801 Bamboo Road, Boone, NC 28607. Our next National Collection Week is Nov. 12-19, 2018.
Join us for our Operation Christmas Child celebration, Saturday, February 24, 2018, 1 pm at North Kitsap Baptist Church, 20516 Little Valley Rd. NE, Poulsbo, WA 98370. Hear first-hand what it is like to see the happy faces and hear the laughter of children as they receive their shoebox gifts. Learn the destinations for the shoebox gifts collected on our peninsulas in 2017.
Thank you again to everyone who participated in this project and for those who do so year after year. These simple gifts, packed with love, send a message of hope and continue to transform the lives of children worldwide.
Susan Hedding
Operation Christmas Child
Trump on track
In response to “Change is needed” (Letters to the editor, Sequim Gazette, Jan. 24, page A-8):
Every morning I awaken and thank God for the collective commonsense of the American electorate for placing Donald J. Trump in office as the President of the United States. In my view this act is a repudiation of the perverse and anti-American liberal agenda, that is good for our country.
Ethan Harris
Sequim
