On letters from climate-change deniers

[n2doc]

snip:
As for letters on climate change, we do get plenty from those who deny global warming. And to say they "deny" it might be an understatement: Many say climate change is a hoax, a scheme by liberals to curtail personal freedom.

Before going into some detail about why these letters don't make it into our pages, I'll concede that, aside from my easily passing the Advanced Placement biology exam in high school, my science credentials are lacking. I'm no expert when it comes to our planet's complex climate processes or any scientific field. Consequently, when deciding which letters should run among hundreds on such weighty matters as climate change, I must rely on the experts -- in other words, those scientists with advanced degrees who undertake tedious research and rigorous peer review.

And those scientists have provided ample evidence that human activity is indeed linked to climate change. Just last month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- a body made up of the world's top climate scientists -- said it was 95% certain that we fossil-fuel-burning humans are driving global warming. The debate right now isn't whether this evidence exists (clearly, it does) but what this evidence means for us.

Simply put, I do my best to keep errors of fact off the letters page; when one does run, a correction is published. Saying "there's no sign humans have caused climate change" is not stating an opinion, it's asserting a factual inaccuracy.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-climate-change-letters-20131008,0,871615.story

[daleanime]

1. We need more common sense like this.

[Viking12]

2. but...

Dear L.A. Times Editors:

It has come to my attention that you will no longer be publishing letters to the editor from Flat-Earthers. This is an outrage, and shows your obvious spherist bias.

By taking the stance that the Earth is round, you are going against six thousand years of obvious truth. Look around you! Do you see the world curving down, away from you? Of course not. And the idea that we live on a thin skin of crust outside a giant sea of molten rock is simply ridiculous. If that were true, the ground would be warmer than the air above it! Duh.

The claim of a scientific consensus is another orbist lie. Have you not seen the Global Flattening Petition Project, which is signed by thousands of scientists* who know the true unbent shape of our planet? And don’t forget Geocentrismgate, where scientists’ emails revealed they say “The Moon rises at 8:30 tonight,” showing they clearly have been lying about heliocentrism, too.

Do I even need to mention that Round-Earth scientists calculate the positions of so-called “satellites” using relativity, and that’s just a theory?

(cont)

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/10/10/an_open_letter_to_the_l_a_times_editors.html