Everyone should work to reduce emissions

To the editor,

In response to the article “Global Alarmists Ramp Up Rhetoric” in the Dec. 13 edition of the Post, I would like to know if those who do not believe that human-caused carbon emissions are leading to climate change would agree that they are at least causing the devastating pollution of our air and that that in itself is a reason for everyone to work to reduce these emissions.

Carol Spalding

Kennebunk

Warming climate is not a hoax

To the editor,

I read with dismay an opinion column printed in the Dec. 13 edition of the Post from Jones Gallagher. Many people in this country continue to deny the facts of climate change, and obviously Mr. Gallagher is one such person.

There are also many people who still refuse to believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution, even though all of modern biology is based on it. Similarly, there are those who refuse to accept the theory of gravity, or the idea that the Earth is not flat but rather a sphere. Modern space exploration and technology would not exist if this were true.

We face a very grave danger from a worldwide, rapidly warming climate. This is not a hoax or a conspiracy. The solutions to solving this crisis are mainly political.

Unfortunately, many still feel that there are two sides to the story, that both have to be given equal time. This is tragically misguided.

We don’t have time any longer.

Bevan Davies
Kennebunk

Op-Ed column was confusing

To the editor,

I’m writing to express my confusion and concern about the piece that ran in the Dec. 13 edition under the headline “Global warming alarmists ramp up rhetoric.” I’ll let some of your well-informed readers send reasoned rebuttals to the views expressed there. They did, however, remind me of Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s famous quote: “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”

My dismay is with the manner in which this article appeared. It belonged in the letters to the editor section, where it’s understood that the comments are coming from your readers and not your staff. The rest of the paper, therefore, is assumed to be printing general information news that presumably aims to be accurate and fair. There was no disclaimer printed with this article to indicate that it was an opinion piece, not journalism, and the headline was as biased as the article itself. Even the photo chosen to accompany it set the mood of a calm, peaceful ocean – nothing to worry about, folks.

If the paper wants to run something like this to inform public debate on issues of importance, an article of equal length providing an opposing view should have been printed along with it. By doing so, you would provide a public service. Without it, you fan the flames of discord and divide that are tearing our nation apart.

We live in dangerous times when opinion, entertainment, and hard news journalism are increasingly being comingled, leaving consumers confused about what constitutes fact from fiction.

As citizens we all must be mindful to check sources and question what we read and hear. As the only source of printed local news covering our towns, you have a responsibility also to strive to inform rather than incite.

Connie Hume Dykstra

Kennebunkport

Comments are not available on this story.