Denial must end

When it comes to the double crisis of climate change and energy shortages, many of us seem to be stuck in one or more of the stages of grieving. It is clear that we can't continue with business as usual without great costs in the near and distant future. Instead of accepting this and taking action, as we are told is the American way, we respond with denial, anger, bargaining and depression.

Al Gore just challenged us to stop the grieving process and to do something ("Gore Sounds Alarm," July 18). Regardless of personal opinions of Mr. Gore, either we take control of the situation as a nation or we will have even more to grieve over.

The history of civilization includes reduced energy costs and increases in efficiencies. Those civilizations that have prospered have done so in part by taking advantage of cheaper ways of getting energy. The other side of the coin is that when the costs of energy sources are rising with no long-term hope of falling, our survival requires that we choose new energy sources whose costs are falling and likely to do so far into the future. It would be depressing if we did otherwise.

Fossil fuels are now a dead end in more ways than one. Solar power is dropping in price. The smart thing to do is to invest in more of it now to hasten the time when it will be cheaper than current sources.

With intelligent approaches to building construction and renovation, we can reduce energy use in the building sector by more than 50 percent by 2020.

There are many other things that can be done. Instead of grieving over technologies that never were good for the environment, work for a better future.

ROBERT J. REILAND
O'Hara

Global scam

Leave it to the Post-Gazette to have Al Gore and his "global warming" agenda on the front page. Has the Post-Gazette noticed how scientists are now debunking this myth? That's right, myth. There are many independent, nongovernment-funded scientists who say this is the biggest scam going.

And since when did almost-President Al Gore become such an expert on this subject? Has anybody asked that? And why does Mr. Gore refuse a debate against real scientists who claim his facts are wrong? And do you ever wonder how much Mr. Gore has made off this scam? Why not have a reporter do some research and see how much Mr. Gore has profited? And why not Google "global warming scam" and see what you find? You may open your eyes to the agenda of the extreme left, which would take our freedoms away with Mr. Gore's scam.

TOM LININGER
Penn Hills

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