This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
On Chris Pond's recent letter ("Go with the science, Chaffetz," Oct. 17) about Jason Chaffetz's statement regarding climate change: "He's entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."
Recent snowfall contributing to the increase of the Antarctic Ice Sheet is actually evidence of global warming (contrary to Chaffetz's suggestion), in that the zone of maximum snowfall (32 degrees F) is moving inland (up in elevation, hence warming). Snow that used to fall in the ocean is now falling on the land. This is also happening on the coastal glaciers of Alaska, as documented since the 1940s by the Juneau Icefield Research Project.
This is almost as ignorant as Rep. Stockman of Texas recently stating, "When my ice melts in my glass it doesn't overfill the glass."
Global warming is real, and there's the science to back it up. Some scientists disagree on the exact mechanism of the various feedback loops creating climate change, but that doesn't mean it's not happening. Hurricanes are already going farther inland than they ever have with some of the highest winds ever recorded. When the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets melt and the only polar bears Chaffetz's great grandkids can see are in zoos, maybe he'll listen.
As the poet Charles Bukowski put it: "The problem with the world is that intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence."
John Porcher
Salt Lake City