I was deeply concerned to read a letter published on Wednesday, January 13 (Human-caused climate change challenged) that made what I believe are false and easily refutable claims about climate science and the existence of human-induced climate change.
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Data about the existence of human-induced climate change, the role CO2 plays in global heating and the lack of impact solar activity has is readily available from reputable sources including the CSIRO, NASA, and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
Mr Cunningham is entitled to his beliefs, but he isn't entitled to claim them as facts, and nor should our local paper promote them. We are seeing with growing frequency just how devastating an effect the erosion of fact, the denial of science and the muddying of information can be.
Ignoring public health advice, vaccine refusal, the destabilisation of democracies - these are the result of an increasingly ill-informed public emboldened by misinformation and conspiracy theories.
At a time when trust in media and our institutions is at an all-time low, for a community paper to amplify any form of disinformation under the guise of impartiality or open debate is not only disappointing, but negligent.
As the mother of two young children and someone who works with governments and business to help shape appropriate responses to the societal problems we face, I find it both exhausting and infuriating that any time or platform is given to people who insist on delaying the progress and action needed to secure a safe future for my children and our community.
The fact is that delaying action on climate change makes no sense - economically, socially, or morally.
The world is moving towards carbon neutrality, and any time spent humouring blockers and deniers just limits our region's potential to prosper - and risks devastating impacts on our futures. And while a debate on the best and most suitable paths to net zero are welcome, there is quite simply no longer room for debate on the science.
I would hope that in future Southern Highland News takes far more seriously the role it plays in both restoring facts as the basis for public discourse and stopping the rise of misinformation.
Nathalie Swainston, Moss Vale
I am writing in regard to the Southern Highlands News publishing the letter from Peter Cunningham titled "Human-Caused Climate Change Challenged".
Peter Cunningham's increasingly isolated stance flies in the face of the plethora of Climate Emergency Declarations by Australian LGAs, including Wingecarribee, and the overwhelming majority of Australian views on the subject.
Surely it is clear by now that the science is indisputable. No scientist to my knowledge has ever claimed that human induced Co2 is the only cause of climate change. By publishing his misinformation and downright lies, SHN becomes complicit in eroding faith in science and truth. Are you perhaps just doing this to be controversial - being part of the "clickbait" problem that is rife in the media?
I am very reluctant to give this letter-writer oxygen for his views by responding to his trollish contributions. However, as we are seeing in the US, the behaviour we walk past is the behaviour we accept.
Gaye White, Mittagong
We all want a better future for our children and grandchildren. I have one and four respectively.
As a community, Australians have joined as one to defeat existential enemies with great regularity. Today we face an uncertain future with finite resources being depleted faster than nature can replenish them and continuing pollution clogging up our one and only planet.
Government leadership is essential in directing efforts to bring about a fair future for all.
The Wingecarribee Shire Council's newly installed Climate Change Action Advisory Panel, of which I am a member, is a step towards our local community working together to enable this to happen.
The WSC is making the effort to lead by improving its energy efficiency, reducing waste and using renewable and less polluting resources.
We all have our part to play so let's get behind this initiative and look to ways to live better more sustainably. Your kids and grandkids deserve that, don't they?