Richard Smith: Climate change can be proven by using scientific method

To The Daily Sun,

Climate Change is real. One writer, who used opinions, feelings and his perceptions stated that “the climate has not changed in all my 80 years.” The writer mentioned that one should look out the window and see the most recent snow storm, which I measured 14 inches in Laconia. I know that the current snowstorm was a weather event, not climate change, which occurs over many years. Once people engage in science, a whole different set of data and observations occur.

I have three examples of climate change that are not conspiracy theories. The scientific method, which I was taught in Laconia Junior High School, was an objective way of looking at science. Personally, I observed the climate changing in the 1950s. Back then we were able to skate at Opechee Park in the cove, the sled dogs went across Lake Opechee, a part of the route for the sled dogs. We used to ski at Belknap Mountain Recreation Area during Christmas vacation. Now they barely have snow. Until we had snowmaking, how can the ski industry survive climate change? Recently, Meredith hosted the hockey tournament. The ice fishing in Meredith depends on the ice and cold temperatures. Three scientific experiments confirm that the Earth is warming up in New Hampshire. Since 1895, the temperature has grown by 4 degrees Fahrenheit.

Another study: greatest warming has occurred in the winter, with an increase of 4 degrees Fahrenheit since 1900. Warmer winters are also reflected in a trend toward earlier ice-out dates on lakes and fewer nights below freezing. Carbon dioxide and methane gas are emitted into the atmosphere and warm up the Earth globally.

In conclusion, climate change is a fact, not an opinion. Scientific methods have confirmed the reality of climate change.

Richard Smith

Laconia