Politicians should address climate change

To the editor:

Climate change should be the overriding issue in the political campaigns. This is especially true in light of new information about methane as a greenhouse gas. Earth scientist Dr. Malcolm Light has derived from Goddard Institute for Space Studies data that the point has been reached in the methane level where methane takes over as the dominant controlling factor of the climate. The naturally varying climate system is being overridden.

Scientist John Tyndall discovered that greenhouse gases can change the climate and they have. This was in 1859. We have had 156 years to learn this. 1250 ppb of methane in the atmosphere is the heat balanced level. Anything over that and the climate heats up. There have been high readings of 2800 ppb in the Arctic. Over 2000 ppb is common. Mauna Loa Hawaii is recording about 1860 ppb.

Please keep an open mind and put this information into a scientific frame of reference. Don't put it into a religious or any other frame of reference until the scientific reference is understood. It is vital that people understand. Please confront the politicians with questions such as what they plan on doing about 2000 ppb of methane in the atmosphere in the Arctic? If they don't know, challenge them to find out.

Harold Hensel

Cedar Rapids