The climate religion

Re: Ted Kuepper's column Aug. 12, "Climate change denial just like tobacco":

The column linked rising temperatures solely to carbon dioxide levels and noted that the CO2 level was at 400 parts per million 5 million years ago, temperatures were 7 degrees F higher than today and the sea level was 100 feet higher. However, he also correctly states that the global CO2 level in 2016 was 400 ppm.

With apologies to Mr. Kuepper, his argument is nonsensical. If global temperatures are so strongly dependent on CO2, why are average global temperatures 7 degrees cooler than 5 million years ago when the CO2 level was the same as today?

Kuepper claims climate change deniers of today "are connected to the fossil fuel industry by either money or ideology." William Happer, professor emeritus at Princeton, told a U.S. Senate committee, "At least 90 percent of greenhouse warming is due to water vapor. Carbon dioxide is a bit player." Patrick Moore, a co-founder of Greenpeace (although no longer a member), said, “Water vapor is the most important greenhouse gas by far. And it's at far higher concentration in the air than carbon dioxide."

Finally, Kuepper's claim that "unbiased climate scientists agree that burning fossil fuels is causing ... global temperatures to rise" is itself biased. Richard Tol is a convening lead author of the fifth U.N. report on climate change. He has testified, "One of the startling facts about climate change is that there are very few facts about climate change. Climate change is mainly something of the future, so we are really talking about predictions."  Moreover, at a 2014 congressional hearing, Tol stated, "The climate has become a new religion, and people who disagree would be treated as heretics." 

Count me as one of the heretics. 

Bob Zahner, Ventura