I have to wonder why this paper published David W. Knudsen’s letter on climate change (Aug. 28), inasmuch as it flies in the face of both science and common sense.

He states that it is happening so slowly that it “is likely that the great majority of people in the world will not perceive the effects of climate change during their lifetimes.” An interesting twist on climate change denial that would make the president proud.

Perhaps Mr. Knudsen should present his arguments to the residents of Miami Beach, where ocean tides are now regularly inundating their streets; to the Maine people who are afflicted by Lyme disease; to my brother-in-law, who lost his home in Ventura, California, to the Thomas fire; to the refugees from hurricanes Harvey and Irma in Texas; or to the Swedes and mainland Europeans who, this very summer, have experienced a heat wave unlike any other in their lifetimes. Events happening just in “fringe areas,” Mr. Knudsen?

Absent Homo sapiens, climate changes do occur naturally – and slowly – over the course of tens of thousands or millions of years. Sadly, since the onset of the Industrial Revolution, we have burned so much fossil fuel that the impact of the ensuing greenhouse gases has dwarfed and overpowered the slow, naturally occurring processes of climate change.

That is why we are now witnessing rivers flowing across the glacial ice of Greenland, great blocks of ice falling away from Antarctica, the rapid retreat of mountain glaciers here and in Europe, and the myriad examples of human suffering mentioned above.

It is at our peril that we fail to acknowledge our responsibility for global warming, and the rapid pace at which human-induced climate change is occurring on this planet.

Joe Hardy

Wells

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