Keith Sketchley (PNR letters, Dec. 5) is confused about what we can and cannot predict.
It seems certain that adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere will lead to warming, sea level rise, ice melt and acidification. All of these are observed.
The “15-year pause in warming” was always a distraction emphasized by people who felt that the peak temperature due to the El Nino in 1998 somehow implied cooling ever since. It took more than 15 years for averages to get above that peak, but they have now done so. The pause has ended.
As a Canadian, I can be happy to see some warming, especially at this time of year. Even the ice melt does not sound so worrying, though I am planning to go and see the Comox Glacier soon, before it vanishes. The sea level rise and the acidification are of more local concern.
I hope Canada will join in what has to be a global effort to stop emitting carbon dioxide. Stopping burning coal would be a good step, though the coal ports at Roberts Bank and in North Vancouver show that we are heavily involved in the market.
We need politicians who are prepared to act. There are many people who would support them.
Jim Gower, Sidney