In his letter entitled "Stop the Climate Change Propaganda," (Feb. 7) Matt Gore throws a bunch of stats and studies at us in an attempt to undermine the "fear mongering" techniques of a professor who was rightly spreading the word about the importance of environmental issues. Even if the statistics that Gore references are valid, he is failing to see the big picture.
Statistics and studies can be slanted to support any argument, but the fact that humans are putting an unnatural strain on the environment is undisputable. The level of foreign chemicals and man-made pollutants in the environment has been increasing at an alarming rate for quite some time now, obviously changing the dynamics of our environment. Animal and plant life, not to mention entire ecosystems, will not be able to adapt quickly enough to keep up with the current rate of environmental degradation.
Change is needed now, and maybe "fear mongering" is exactly what we need. The average person is surprisingly complacent and uncaring when it comes to the impact we are having on the future of our planet. If we continue along our current path, our actions will compromise not only the futures of a couple exotic species off in some forest somewhere, but the well-being of future generations and quite likely our current generation will also be at stake.
Look around you: The writing is on the wall. It is becoming pretty clear that the time for fear is now. In the end of Gore's letter, he claims to support conservation and the use of alternate energy sources based on potential short-term and long-term benefits. If that is so, then why did he even write his letter? The only part that anyone will read is the headline "Stop the climate change propaganda," which, on a base level, contradicts this point It seems to me that his article was an unneeded attack against a sentiment of "fear" that is definitely warranted when it comes to the future of our planet. I know I'm scared, and maybe he should be too ...
Daniel Collins
sophomore
Alumni Hall
Feb. 7