Editor, Gazette Journal:

I write in response to the Dec. 19 letters, “The myth of man-made climate change” and “Climate change a tool to redistribute wealth.” Both letters make logical arguments. Although I am a trained engineer, I am not qualified to pass judgment on either the scientific arguments in the letters or those of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). On the other hand, I am certain I cannot read the minds of the scientists involved in the debate. Therefore, I cannot know the motivations for their respective opinions. Neither can the writers of the letters be certain that the climate scientists’ motivations are to make a “comfortable living” or “redistribute the wealth.”

I think it would be prudent to err on the side of the IPCC. If the IPCC is wrong and we make unnecessary changes, we have only temporarily lost some modern conveniences. If the IPCC is right and we make the necessary changes, we will have dodged a worldwide catastrophe.

We should be open to all scientific arguments without casting aspersions on any scientist. The truth will eventually come out.

Eric Stewart
Mathews, Va.