Re: “Trust us, we’re the media” [Jan. 25–Feb. 1]

I swear that Rex Murphy thinks the whole global-warming thing will go away if he quotes enough Shakespeare at it. The more shrill columnists at the National Post seem to believe that the science will wither once subjected to their awesome rhetorical prowess. Margaret Wente at the Globe and Mail prefers the folksy, “Well, it snowed early out on George’s farm, therefore climate change is a pile of crap” tack.

My personal favourite is the “inverse Tinkerbell” approach: if we can convince enough people not to believe in it, then it won’t be real.

I wonder if a lot of our nation’s opinion writers really “get” science. I’m not talking about climate change in particular, but the concept of the scientific method in general.

Media pundits, by nature, are masters of persuasion, but you can’t persuade a carbon-dioxide molecule to change its radiative properties. Still, it’s nice to see the calm voice of reason slowly coming to bear over the yelling from the fringes.

> Adam La Rusic / North Vancouver

Congratulations on your excellent cover story, “Trust us, we’re the media”. Almost as if in response to Mitchell Anderson’s fine piece, this past Saturday’s Globe and Mail featured a focus article by Margaret Wente admitting that human- induced climate change was a reality.

This, in fact, was forced on the Globe by the most rapid and impressive shift in public opinion in over 30 years, according to a survey commissioned by the Globe and CTV. So, hurrah! The good guys won the debate.

Oh, no, don’t be quite so naive. Wente kicks off the real debate. Sure, the scientists have agreed that HICC is happening, but they haven’t agreed on how bad it is, have they? So how bad is it? The scientists haven’t agreed as to what will happen in a decade or two, so what will happen? What changes are really necessary? Changing our habits today won’t have any noticeable effect in 10 years, so it’s best to start changing—but slowly, very, very slowly.

In the mainstream media, only a few things connected with climate change are certainties. Oh, all right, it is happening, but Al Gore made the movie for an Academy Award. George Monbiot, Tim Flannery, and their ilk are just trying to cash in with sensational bestsellers. This whole issue of HICC is actually the vehicle of some extremist kooks from the West Coast with their own radical notions of how people should live.

Those damn dope-smoking, hemp-wearing, bicycle-riding, Green-voting radicals, we’ll give them a debate they’ll never win!

> David W.. Macdonald / Burnaby