Critical thinking

Dear Editor:

A letter by Barbara Bowle in the Aug. 18 Advertiser seems to want the editor to publish both sides of climate change debate – ie. the truth vs false information regarding climate change and “to check both sides and apply our own critical thinking skills.” 

In a “perfect world” that might work, but in reality not everyone chooses to use critical thinking to weigh the evidence, and make their own conclusions. How else can one explain that despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, 30% of Americans and 70% of republicans still believe that the election was stolen from Trump?

What is even more disturbing, is that in spite of the fact that 19 of the past 20 years were the hottest on record “continuing a long-term warming trend due to human activities” (https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/) – many Canadians refuse to believe that we are the cause.

If Chris Daponte didn’t write that “Over 90% of climate scientists believe global temperatures have increased during the past century and that human activity is a significant contributing factor,” after a letter with false statements about climate change, those of us without our critical thinking caps on, might  end up even more confused.

John Burger,
Orton