Last week, MIT professors in the Program of Atmospheres, Oceans and Climate (PAOC) penned a letter to President Trump voicing the importance of remaining engaged with the UN climate convention and recognizing the real threat that climate change poses to humanity. The Boston Globe reports that this comes as a response to their colleague and MIT professor emeritus Richard Lindzen’s open letter, urging the President to withdraw the US from the international climate accord and calling the 2015 Paris agreement “ill-advised and “not scientifically justified.” Lindzen has a long history of refuting the connection between increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and climate change, and advising against policies that would help curb emissions. But PAOC faculty Kerry Emanuel, Raffaele Ferrari and Susan Solomon, warn that denial of the risks associated with increasing greenhouse gases -- which are acknowledged by most climate researchers and organizations -- is dangerous and unfounded. Lindzen’s stance and, “his activities are working against the efforts of a great many colleagues, and more of us consider it unacceptable,” Emanuel told the Globe.
The letter from PAOC faculty concludes: “We owe it to future generations to remain engaged with the international community to seek the widest possible efforts to understand and mitigate those threats.”
Read the Boston Globe’s and InsideClimate News’ coverage.