To the editor:

Larry Kelley’s letter comparing global warming to a religion is inappropriate (Journal-World, May 10). Religion is based on faith that there are truths beyond the physical world, whereas physical proof about the reality (or not) of global warming exists in the physical world, and it takes only time and research to find the truth.

Although a few experts argue that we need more time and research or that current global warming is caused by “cyclic heating of the sun” as Mr. Kelley believes, the overwhelming majority of experts believe that the best interpretations of the physical data show that human activity is a major factor in global warming.

If Mr. Kelley wishes to be skeptical, he has my sympathy, but that, unfortunately, is not what he is doing. Rather, his rejection of human responsibility for climate change seems to be based on his belief that there is some kind of conspiracy by the “New World Order crowd, including the United Nations and the Council of Foreign Relations” and “Al Gore, and the revolutionaries who have nowhere else to invest their energies” to “erode the middle class” and increase “control and surveillance” of unwitting Americans so that “foreign companies : can come in and buy us up at bargain prices.” This very much sounds like paranoid, anti-intellectual nativism.

The world is beset by very serious problems that need reasoned and objective solutions. Environmental degradation is a real problem, not at all a fantasy, and global warming is almost certainly a part of this problem.

Eric D.A. Smith,

Lawrence