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In his letter (Sept. 18, Daily Bee), Jeremy Conlin cites Joe Bastardi as an authority on global climate change. Mr. Bastardi is a meteorologist, not a climate scientist. Meteorologists generally deal with local weather patterns over a relatively short seven- to 10-day interval. Climate scientists study long-term trends which are commonly based on global climatological data collected over 20- to 30-year periods.

In addition to the fact that Mr. Bastardi has no expertise as a climate scientist, he has demonstrated an appalling lack of understanding of science in general. For example, he has claimed that “the theory of human-induced climate change contradicts what we call the first law of thermodynamics.” In doing so, he must completely ignore the radiant energy that is continuously delivered to the earth by the sun. And he must disregard the earth-warming effect of atmospheric carbon dioxide, a scientifically-verified fact first discovered in 1896. High school physics is sufficient to debunk his frivolous argument.

Anything Mr. Bastardi has to say about global climate change should be taken with a very large grain of salt. For more details, see “One Confusedi Bastardi” at skepticalscience.com.

The current atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is near 400 ppm and climbing. This is higher than it has been in the last 800,000 years. The relentless burning of fossil fuels continues to drive this upward trend. It is the overwhelming consensus of the world’s climate scientists that failure to properly address this issue will likely result in serious climatic disruptions in the future.

JACK DeBAUN

Sandpoint