It’s no secret that I am concerned about global warming. Why? Because of the steady drumbeat of reports from the legitimate scientific community warning that this is a very real and serious danger for us, our children, and future generations. The scientific community also reminds us that we possess the means to avert or substantially ameliorate the danger if only we can muster the will to do so.
Pennsylvania has a new head of the Department of Environmental Protection who has no education or background in environmental protection and who recently expressed skepticism about global warming. Today the Philadelphia Inquirer printed a letter from me on the subject. My letter reads as follows:
Ill-suited to DEP job
Christopher Abruzzo, Gov. Corbett’s new head of the state Department of Environmental Protection, said at his confirmation hearing that he had “not read any scientific studies that would lead me to conclude that there are adverse impacts to human beings or to animals or to plant life at this small level of climate change.” In fact, there is a scientific consensus that the polar ice caps are melting and that global warming is causing global climate change with significant adverse impacts on humans and animals. That Abruzzo did not know this amply demonstrates that he is not qualified to run the DEP.
Stephen G. Harvey, Philadelphia
You may wonder why I choose to use this blog, which serves my for-profit law firm, to promote a message seemingly unrelated to the firm or its practice areas and, indeed, on an issue some find controversial. Because I believe that lawyers owe a duty to the public to speak out on important issues.
Thank you for listening.