The opinion piece published in the Dec. 31, 2021, Forecaster by John Balentine (“Magic 8-Ball illuminates clues to 2022”) was a sophomoric attempt to present his opinions as impartial. His bias comes through, however, in how he presents the questions (I notice he didn’t ask the 8-Ball “Will Trump and his conservative allies ever admit that Biden is the duly elected president?”).

Particularly galling was his attempt to present the National Snow and Ice Data Center data as proof that the climate is stable. If he’d bothered to study their website in more detail he would have found the following quote, “Over the past 30 years, the Arctic has warmed at roughly twice the rate as the entire globe.” Instead, he misrepresents six months of weather data as evidence of climate. Most high schoolers know the difference.

He then leverages that notion to demean the laudable efforts of a young climate change advocate. How infantile. Worldwide, 189 countries have acknowledged climate change by signing the 2020 Paris Agreement. Nearly 100% of climate scientists accept that climate change is real and human-caused. This is settled science. Those who deny it simply don’t have the character to accept that they will have to change their way of life for their children, their grandchildren, plants, animals and all of humanity.

Fortunately, I don’t have to continue reading his blather; I simply won’t bother to pick up another Forecaster.

John Entwistle
Topsham