Disbeliever

As a citizen of Santa Barbara, I am embarrassed and ashamed that we have at least one City Council member, Frank Hotchkiss, who is both scientifically illiterate and shortsighted on the subject of global warming.

I know the majority of the council and the mayor have a far more intelligent and rational view of this issue. Simply put, global warming is the most serious long-term danger our region—and the rest of the globe—faces. To stick our heads in the sand and listen to dishonest spokespeople for corporations who deny global warming is to condemn future generations to living on a planet that will not be a pleasant place.

There is nothing “speculative” about anthropogenic global warming, as Councilman Hotchkiss so foolishly stated. Our knowledge of this catastrophe is based on decades of hard scientific research. Denying this research would put Santa Barbara in the company of the Flat Earth Society and deniers of evolution, and condemn us to a grim future.