Letter from P. Jay Fleisher

Interpretations Differ on Climate

The May 16, 2024 edition of your Partial Observer presents Roger Caiazza’s professional perspective related to climate change.

With all due respect for Roger’s professional opinion based on his experience in the energy sector, I wish to point out an alternate perspective.

The subject of climate change and the impact of fossil fuels was studied by the IPCC (International Commission on Climate Change) with specific attention given to post-glacial changes that coincide with the “Industrial Revolution.”

Illustrating Caiazza’s article is a diagram (Figure 7) that shows atmospheric temperature changes limited to 1850 through 2020. Unfortunately, this fails to represent a full and accurate perspective because it does not include conditions known to have existed throughout geologic time during episodes of known glacial and interglacial events.

When shown completely, the diagram has the shape of a “hockey stick” that is relatively flat before rising abruptly in post-glacial time to show increased atmosphere temperature.

The interpretation applied is that at no time during all the years since the end of the last Ice Age, including climate changes recorded in historic time, has the climate warmed as fast as it has during the Industrial Revolution. Consequently, the IPCC recommended to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and the adoption of “green energy” sources.

P. Jay Fleisher
glacial geologist
Brunswick, Maine