Tea Party ignoring truth of global warming

It is disturbing to read that many Tea Party and conservative political candidates are expressing doubt and denial about global warming as a likely cause of climate change.

This denial is supported by the massive lobbying by the oil, gas, and utility industries against legislation to address climate change and to defeat candidates who support it.

A growing body of scientific evidence has shown that the world's climate has been warming as the result of emissions of fossil fuels, destruction of tropical forests and methane produced from landfills and other sources.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (which shared the 2007 Nobel Prize with Al Gore) has estimated that global warming resulting from a doubling of greenhouse gases since 1800 may reach 8 degrees Fahrenheit, resulting in devastating, long-lasting disruptions of ecosystems and economies.

We and our children will wish that our elected leaders had the wisdom and will to prevent the dangers from climate change that are still avoidable.

John Macatee

Iowa City