Broadside Opinion

Don’t give space to Alan Moore
I am extremely disappointed by the recent opinion piece in Broadside by Alan Moore, “Rebuttal to Climategate Response.”

Quite frankly, the back-and-forth between Alan Moore and Colin Bennett is getting tiresome. Alan Moore writes some ridiculous piece with no basis in fact and Colin Bennett responds, thoroughly refuting Moore’s claims by correctly citing verifiable information.

Moore then follows up with a piece that is more fantastical than the first. Once again, Bennett responds with a well written piece that completely debunks Moore’s claims. So Moore responds by writing a piece that is so absurd that it would be laughable were it not so offensive. In fact, Moore’s most recent rants serve to do nothing other than highlight the fact that he is apparently completely ignorant of any facts about climate change.

I understand that Mr. Moore has the right to express his opinion, but Broadside also has the right to refuse to run his nonsense. I would like to see Broadside publish more information about how climate change is going to affect George Mason University and what our school is doing about it.

I know that the Office of Sustainability has been hard at work coming up with a Climate Action Plan; I think you should run stories about that instead of giving space to Mr. Moore’s lunacy.

Darius Salimi
anthropology

‘Green Tips’ make sense
Recently Mr. Alan Moore wrote an op-ed describing the work of the Office of Sustainability as “eco-radical farce.” I don’t understand how Mr. Moore could honestly believe they are “eco-radica,” even though I know he denies climate change, which is strongly supported by scientists other than the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Is telling the Mason community to turn off your lights when you’re not using them, recycle whenever possible, print double-sided as opposed to one-sided to save paper really radical?

The “Green Tips” that the Office of Sustainability provides on their website and through the work of their office not only make sense for the environment, but for your wallet as well. While Mr. Moore terms it “radical,” I regard it as rational and common sense.

Rather than take the word of Mr. Moore, I would suggest the Mason community to visit the Office of Sustainability’s website at http://green.gmu.edu. The Mason community can determine for themselves if their work is really that radical or if Mr. Moore is just that out of touch with the commitment that President Merten has made to climate neutrality, which is strongly supported by Mason students, faculty and staff.

Nya Jackson
integrative studies

‘We need to stop wasting time’
As I read Alan Moore’s op-ed, I learned more about how much he seems to dislike Colin Bennett than the actual issue. Moore resorted to low attacks on Bennett and drifted far from the real issue at hand.

He claims that Bennett’s article was made up of mudslinging and personal attacks. I find this ironic considering Alan Moore’s article was filled with phrases such as, “Mr. Bennett does not represent rational thought or popular opinion,” and, “as most liberals who lack intelligent and substantive positions do,” and even going so far as to call Bennett an, “eco-radical.”

Now more than ever we need to stop wasting time and start creating a solution to the enormous problem that climate change has presented us with. Instead of bashing the opposing belief, Moore should do a little more research before he spews his claims and personal attacks onto Broadside’s pages again. I’m looking forward to seeing if Moore himself can have a “civil and genuine debate.”

Allison Rutledge
biology

Before choosing sides, we should first inform ourselves
I am writing in response to the recent articles debating climate change. I am of the opinion that people should form their own opinions on debated issues related to science by going to the source and reading for themselves.

The issue of climate change is tricky because both authors quote scientists for and against the prospects of anthropogenic climate change. This controversy leads us to believe that some scientists are correct and some are incorrect, but how can we tell right from wrong?

The website Realclimate.com is run by climate scientists and relays publications on climate issues for the general public. This website is a good resource for individuals interested in this topic, but who lack the scientific background to cross-check facts with scientific articles.

This website shows overwhelming evidence against the credibility certain scientists quoted in certain articles have that we would not otherwise be aware of. So I think before we, as Broadside readers at George Mason University, go any further in choosing sides in this debate, we should first inform ourselves.

Christi Kruse
biology

‘Climate change is real’
I am appalled at the amount of mudslinging and slander in Moore’s most recent op-ed, “Rebuttal to Climategate Response.”
The piece was simply a series of personal attacks and unsupported arguments. When I read the Opinion section of Broadside, I expect intellectually stimulating perspectives, not schoolyard bully ramblings.

Climate change is real and our well-respected national scientific organizations agree as seen on their websites at climate.noaa.gov, epa.gov/climatechange/ and climate.nasa.gov. Given the size of the global climatology community, the idea of a vast conspiracy of data manipulation is not rational.

Accusing thousands upon thousands of scientists of fraud, corruption and deceit is what I would consider radical, not striving for sustainability, protecting the environment and fighting climate change.

Let us remember that the EPA is fighting climate change under the Clean Air Act and that George Mason University President Alan Merten is also fighting climate change through his commitment to climate neutrality.

If supporting the EPA and President Merten means I’m drinking “the climate change alarmist Kool-Aid” as Moore calls it, then pour me another glass; we have work to do.

Jason Von Kundra
physics

Global warming is not a hoax
Apparently, there is still a minority of people who willingly gulp down the cherry-flavored lie that global warming is a hoax. Seeing as how Alan Moore wants to use Broadside for his personal rants, I understand that he would want to attack the person who actually has some important things to say.

In his recent op-ed about climate change, Mr. Moore used an example from Professor John Christy at the University of Alabama which said, “The temperature records cannot be relied on as indicators of global change.” This statement ignorantly denies the strange weather that people have been facing all over the world.

Just a few weeks ago, 49 out of the 50 states had snow on the ground. More recently, Portugal and Sudan have suffered horrifying mudslides. These examples could definitely be due to the natural changing of our world, or they could be due to the disgusting way that humans are treating our planet. Even if we eventually find out that humans are not a direct cause, I would rather not make a disgusting mess of my home. There is no reason for people to participate in the destruction of our planet through deforestation, mountain top removal or pollution of the environment when there are other resources available to us.

Nicole Urban
psychology