Dear Editor,
This is a response to the letter about carbon pollution tax that turned into a environmentalist rant.
As a fellow reader and scientist, I would like to reach out with the alternative voice, it is tiresome to see short minded, ill formed, radical opinions flooding all over at UVM. All too often we hear how terrible a society we are for our use of carbon-based fuels, as well as how terrible the University is for its smart investments.
(See the divestment “nutters.” How do you think your scholarship money was acquired? Hint: not from state funding.) It is embarrassing to see that at such an academically solid university that common sense and practicality are not harnessed.
Is there a global trend in warmer environments due to an anthropogenic increase? Yes.
However, how far off of the natural temperature cycle we are is still debated. With all of that aside, the entry last week mentioned a carbon pollution tax, and loosely cited its success in very large industrial places. Yet it failed to explain or define what it was, and only used a reference to VPIRG support, the same group who, when their last good idea became profitable, went from non-profit to for-profit swiftly.
The writer went on to say that “all those concerned about their future being devastated by climate change should support this bill by contacting their representatives.” Coming back to the point, it is tiresome to see fear statements and hyperbole used over facts and informed opinion. Students at this University should learn to disregard the radical, misguided mudslinging that is carried on with accusations and loose facts worse than Joseph McCarthy or a priest in Salem, Massachusetts circa 1692.
It would be refreshing to see an organization for energy reform that used common sense and that had realistic goals so that change could be seen within our lifetime.
Sincerely,
Joseph Gallant
Class of 2016
&
Jameson Thayer
Class of 2016