Commentary - #15 May 2-3, 2005

New Yorker Letters

TO THE EDITOR, THE NEW YORKER, with regard to ?Climate of Man ? II?

This excellent piece of reporting and writing should frighten and unfreeze the
minds of many readers. There is a major question, however, that Ms. Kolbert does not even mention: Is our world undergoing a global warming due to another natural long-term warming cycle since the end of the last ?Little Ice Age? about 150 years ago? It appears that we are, but what is the scientific evidence? The debate on global warming, as presented in her article and many others, appears to set this question aside in order to focus on the impacts of the man-made (?anthropogenic?) factors.

A long-term, natural warming upswing, together with anthropogenic warming, may present even more frightening prospects. Is it not likely that some of the effects of the two sets of forces could be mutually reinforcing, so that their impacts might be multiplicative, greater than their sum?

Please respond.
PETER BEARSE, Ph.D., International Consulting Economist
May 2, 2005

TO THE EDITOR, THE NEW YORKER, re: ?In the Footsteps of Tocqueville?

What a pretentious title for an article so lacking. Mr. Levy may have traveled ?deep into America? but his reportage stayed on its surface. Tocqueville is known for his deep insights into ?Democracy in America.? Why do we see hardly any such in the article? Is there to be a sequel that delves beneath the surface? Can we hope for more?

Peter Bearse, author of We, the People: A Conservative Populism (Lafayette, LA: Alpha Publishing, 2004) and International Consulting Economist (most recently in Iraq).
May 3, 2005

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