I hope everyone had a chance to save Steve Skutnik’s Nov. 13th column, “Lies, scandal and the fallacies of global warming.” I hope everyone has placed it in a time capsule, not to be opened until the year 2100. Only then, looking back on a century of progress, will we be able to confirm Mr. Skutnik’s speculations.

Unintentionally, Mr. Skutnik’s reasoning for boycotting the Kyoto Protocol is also the motivation to ratify its lack of information. He readily admits that it is nearly impossible to determine the effects of greenhouse gas on the future of our atmosphere. I agree that global warming might not bear any significance. On the other hand, what if global warming is a reality?

Not long ago, the obvious “environmental benefits that development and technology confer” resulted in the creation of DDT. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was a warning sign for the masses of the disastrous effects of the pesticide. Carson was an example of one of Mr. Skutnik’s “scaremongers” and was attacked by scientists and chemical manufacturers. In the end, Silent Spring won out and the Environmental Protection Agency was created in 1970. Soon after, DDT was banned in the United States. The Clean Air and Clean Water Act followed close behind, due to the realization that the environment can be a fragile system.

DDT was used extensively before the effects were completely understood. A lack of information caused damage to ecosystems across the nation. Are we willing to repeat this on a global scale? I have no idea of the total effect of greenhouse gases over the next 100 years. I do know that when that time capsule is opened I would rather have erred on the safe side.

Support conservation initiatives and pollution prevention. Mr. Skutnik’s grandkids will thank you for it.

Russ Dudley

Senior

Civil Engineering