The editorial “The Hurricane Matthew ‘connection': Climate extremism” claimed “Science says otherwise,” contending that blaming extreme weather events on climate change is an undemonstrated relationship. Besides quoting professional doubt-peddler Tom Harris, the editorial used expert opinion from 2010. Why dig back six years for a source? That's like getting movies from Blockbuster or using an iPhone 4.

The National Academy of Sciences this year released an authoritative report on exactly this subject. This scientific gold standard of excellence tells us that blaming extreme weather events on global warming has highest confidence when temperature-related. Current Atlantic and atmosphere temperatures are the warmest ever recorded.

The next best connection was with heavy rainfall, since warmer air holds more moisture. Hurricane Matthew's worst damage resulted from flooding, making it the fifth such “1,000-year” flooding event just hitting the U.S. this year.

Fossil fuels make modern life possible, but pretending they don't have a steep cost attached isn't helping. A conservative market-based way to address climate change exists. This climate “insurance policy” would boost our economy by $80 to $90 billion annually and create 2.8 million new jobs. A gradually increasing fee and dividend on fossil-fuel pollution will dial down the heat. It also gives us a predictable way to choose when and how we adopt cleaner energy sources.

Ray Roberts

Highland Park

The writer is the Pennsylvania state co-coordinator for Citizens' Climate Lobby (citizensclimatelobby.org).

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