In Jack Millman's recent opinion piece, "Warming science load of hot air," the author argues that an open debate of global warming evidence has been hindered by "ignorance and bad science." In his column, Millman puts forth several anecdotes in ostensible support of this view. He refers to a story in "Nature," which he calls "research," by Betsy Mason who mentions - without citation - that the glaciers atop Mt. Kilimanjaro are "evaporating" as a result of decreased precipitation related to local deforestation, not warmer temperatures. Mason is not a scientist, but a journalist who was covering efforts to slow retreat atop Kilimanjaro by covering the glaciers with a large, white tarpaulin. This was a news story and not original research, as Millman insinuates. There is also no mention of John Daly's assertion that satellite-based temperature estimates show no apparent warming of the lower atmosphere in Mason's story. Daly, again a journalist and not a "climatologist" as Millman refers to him, is only connected to the Mason article through comments that appear in a 2004 news story by the Heartland Institute, a conservative think-tank with extensive financial ties to the fossil fuel industry. This oversight is compounded by the fact that Millman asserts that Mason and Daly were coauthors of the supposed "research." Furthermore, the language Millman uses to convey these points is similar, in function and form, to that in the Heartland story.
These claims represent either willful ignorance or a deliberate misrepresentation on Millman's part, and are unfortunate examples of the confusion he professes to avoid. The role of precipitation in the retreat of glaciers atop Kilimanjaro has been widely discussed by climate scientists in peer-reviewed literature. To focus on a single piece of evidence, however, is beside the point. The retreat of Kilimanjaro's glaciers is reflective of a near-unanimous trend across our planet's mid- and low-latitudes. This pattern is in agreement with clear evidence for surface and atmospheric temperature increases from a widespread array of measurements, including satellite data. Moreover, recent warming of our planet's climate is likely unprecedented over at least the last 1,000 years, a finding that has been supported by a substantial body of temperature reconstructions, including the "hockey stick," which, in contrast to Millman's assertion of having been "totally disproved by fellow scientists," has been defended by the National Academy of Sciences, our nation's premier scientific organization.
The Lantern provides a unique venue for students at this university to express their views and opinions. When these views relate to matters of science, however, they must be substantiated by actual evidence, and not pseudoscience propaganda culled from the popular press. To do otherwise is shamefully misleading and hinders any debate that, as Millman himself puts it, should remain "open and informed."
Aron Buffen is a graduate student in the School of Earth Sciences and the Byrd Polar Research Center. He can be reached at buffen.1@osu.edu.
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