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Obviously the greenhouse gases are going somewhere. How can people say that the rising temperatures in the Arctic are just a natural variation in climate? Hello! Do they think that toxic gases have absolutely no harmful effects on the environment? How can people ignore what they are doing to the earth? MARIANNA HAGBLOOM Christiansted, Virgin Islands
Despite evidence of global warming, we humans will not change our ways in order to protect the environment. We don't change airline regulations until planes crash; we don't recall tires until people have died; and until the warming starts to affect us, we will still turn our back on environmental problems. JUSTIN KAR-JING LI Ottawa
Global warming is only one among many problems suffered by our planet. Unless we find a way to halt the out-of-control overpopulation of the earth, we are doomed. We are rich and wasteful, yes, but there are far too many of us, and the situation is getting worse each day. DOMINIQUE HUDELOT Vankleek Hill, Ont.
Your article on rising temperatures and the thinning of Arctic sea ice was an eye opener. It is time to realize that deposits of fossil fuels are nature's garbage dumps and that we need to think seriously of ways to cease using this garbage in our biosphere. To convert futile complaints about greenhouse gases into positive action, we should free all non-fossil-carbon energy technologies from taxes for five or even 10 years of active production and sales. There is nothing like the lure of no taxes to stimulate businesses to come up with creative solutions to "insoluble" problems. ARTHUR M. HOWARD Daettlikon, Switzerland
Who will make the major changes that are needed: the U.S., Germany or Japan? Developing countries, including giant China, where energy consumption has been a fraction of that in industrialized countries, say they have the right to use more energy now. Even the U.S. Senate is reluctant, for some elusive reason, to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which calls for a reduction in greenhouse emissions. By the time everyone has recognized the true seriousness of global warming, it will be too late to take action. KAY TOMORI Tokyo
Yours was one of very few articles in the nonscientific press that discussed the natural component of global warming. Indeed, according to the data derived from ice cores, it appears the earth keeps cooling and warming by itself and has done so since long before fossil fuels started being burned by humans on a large scale. Unfortunately, most people think global warming can be reversed if other sources of energy are used. This is a gross oversimplification. We should use our resources not to find ways to stop this natural phenomenon, but rather to discover ways to adapt to it. There is a great need for more objective education and more research funds to better predict future weather changes. EMMANUEL MAICAS Moncton, N.B.
Italians on the Road