Dear Editor:
I am responding to the column by David Suzuki that appeared in the April 22 edition of Yorkton This Week.
An obstacle to rational decision making in climate policy is the confusion between carbon dioxide (CO2) and air pollution.
Real air pollution, such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and soot, is important to control and we have done a good job in most of Canada reducing the concentration of these substances.
But CO2, an odourless, colourless gas that is an essential to plant photosynthesis, is not pollution. The poor air quality in China’s cities has nothing to do with CO2.
So why would David Suzuki bring up climate change and Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in his article about air pollution in China? It is because of his concern that GHG emissions, primarily CO2 from human activities, will result in climate problems.
After 18 years with no global warming while CO2 levels have risen 10%, GHG-caused climate concerns are becoming an increasingly difficult sell. So Suzuki and many politicians piggyback debatable climate change concerns on top of genuine pollution worries, apparently hoping they can sell the former by associating it with the latter.
While this tactic might succeed for a while from a public relations perspective, it makes no sense scientifically. It is akin to promoting the building of an asteroid defense system, an expensive endeavour of highly uncertain value, by associating it with vitally important cancer research.
Suzuki must help society distinguish between unrelated issues, not confuse us with red herrings.
Ottawa, Ontario ICSC is not right wing (our participants come from across the political spectrum), is not funded by ‘big oil,’ and are not lobbyists or ‘shills’ for industry of any sort. I have never worked as a PR rep for any company or sector.
Sincerely,
Tom Harris, B. Eng., M. Eng. (thermo-fluid sciences)
Executive Director
International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC)
Ottawa, Ontario
