TO THE EDITOR:
In using the term “carbon pollution,” Alison Jones is using doublespeak, what the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines as “language used to deceive usually through concealment or misrepresentation of truth.” “Carbon pollution” really means carbon dioxide (CO2), an invisible, odorless gas essential to plant photosynthesis.
This is more than just an academic point.
It is an example of how misleading language has poisoned the climate debate. Calling CO2 “carbon pollution” encourages people to think of it as something dirty, like graphite or soot.
Calling CO2 by its proper name would help people remember that, regardless of its role in climate change, a topic of intense debate in the science community, it is anything but pollution.
Besides the waste of billions of dollars and the loss of millions of jobs due to the climate scare, another tragedy is unfolding. As a result of the unjustified confidence that we know the future of climate and, even more outrageously, that humanity can control it, only 6 percent of the more than $1 billion spent every day across the world on climate finance is devoted to helping vulnerable societies adapt to climate change.
The rest is dedicated to trying to stop climatic events that may someday happen.
This is the real climate crisis that should concern Mothers and Others for Clean Air.
Tom Harris
