Taxing carbon a pointless exercise

To the editor:

I read the illogical article on climate change in the March 27 issue (“We need a grand bargain on climate change,” by Roy Morrison, March 27-April 9 NHBR).

Carbon sequestration by green plants has been with us since the carboniferous period some 345 million years ago, not exactly a new phenomenon. Trees are the poster boy for carbon sequestration, and are carbon-neutral over their lifetime. New Hampshire is 85 percent forested. Where, pray tell, would we plant more trees? And why?

If author Morrison watches TV at all, he can’t fail to see all the wonderful shows about the earth’s history, which illustrate just how much change has occurred over earth’s 4.5 billions years of existence.

The current warming is nothing more than another 1,500-year cooling and warming cycle (plus or minus 500 years), that have been with us for at least the last million years. This is all documented in ice and sediment cores, and to a lesser extent, written records.

To tax us for our carbon production is pointless, as the money will be returned! What has been gained?

It often helps to have things in perspective. Earth’s atmosphere consists of approximately 79 percent nitrogen, 20 percent oxygen and 1 percent all other gases, with CO2 being three-tenths of that 1 percent. Why should we worry?

According to a recent article in National Geographic and a TV show on April 7, the island of LaPalma in the Canary Group may well slide off into the Atlantic Ocean, causing a tsunami, which will flood the North and South American east coasts with a 100-foot-high wall of water. Perhaps the last word we will hear from southern New Hampshire’s ivory tower will be, “Glub, glub. I told you so. Glub, glub.”

Donald Bradley
Plainfield