Sounding Off:

This is in response to Tom Williams’ Forum piece (Sounding Off: “Earth is repeating cooling cycle,” Dec. 29).

If we did not have some amount of greenhouse warming, life on Earth would be very different or nonexistent. However, too much of a good thing is not so good. It is also important to note that there are many possible causes of global climate change over the longer term, including plate tectonics, ocean salinity, ocean currents, solar radiation — as Williams mentioned — and more. We can expect more abrupt changes in our climate, and they may be more difficult to predict.

“The Earth has been cooling for 10 years or so,” Williams wrote. I would like to see that data. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration contradicts that assertion. It is difficult to see how anyone could make that statement when we are losing land ice from every continent. While it is true that this situation may not be as dire as some have predicted, the scientific community is playing the safe side. We simply do not know.

I would urge people to resist the temptation to interchange the terms global climate change with weather. When people see a snowstorm on the East Coast and think that disproves a global climatic warming trend, they are confusing climate and weather. Climate is global — or, at least, more geographically widespread — and weather is local. The question comes down to common sense: If we are not absolutely certain that these warming cycles that are correlative — notice I am not writing causative — with human activities are “natural” changes, shouldn’t we take appropriate action? Isn’t there a moral imperative to — at least — try?

I believe full disclosure is always best when writing about any subject much less science. I have a bachelor’s degree in zoology, a master’s degree in environmental science, and a doctorate in veterinary medicine. I practiced veterinary medicine for 12 years, including wildlife rehabilitation, and am now finishing my teaching credential for high school science. I would be interested to know what Williams’ scientific background is.

It is important to understand that climate change is a problem that has been seriously discussed for years. I have been studying this issue either for 31 years. I am concerned that there really is not much we can do to reverse the problems we have had a heavy hand in creating: We must simply adapt; but, at the same time, the poorest people are going to bear the brunt of this problem — whatever the cause.

Imagine a sea-level rise of one meter and another Asian tsunami.

Last time, hundreds of thousands of people were killed. Next time, add at least one zero to the right of the other zeros in the death toll. Most of the rest of us in the Western world are insulated against serious catastrophe, so why should we care? That is a serious question we should all be asking. But, as long as people tell me that our planet is undergoing a cooling trend, even when every continent shows evidence of land ice loss, good ideas get buried within scientifically indefensible ideologies.

JAY B. LITVAK lives in Costa Mesa.