Global warming won't fix itself

It's always amusing to read the logical gymnastics that climate-change deniers resort to in support of their precious status quo.

We know increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will affect Earth's heat balance. And we know humans have nearly doubled the concentration of this greenhouse gas since the Industrial Revolution.

And carbon dioxide is not the only greenhouse gas we have been dumping into the air.

We also know the U.S. depends on an unstable part of the world for the majority of its oil, and that our use of oil has grown at a consistent rate of about 2 percent per year for the past 30 years. At this rate, our use of oil doubles every 35 years.

I do not consider myself an "alarmist" for being able to understand chemistry and exponential growth, and to recognize threats to ecological stability and national security.

Tim Kozusko

Melbourne Beach

Paper exaggerates hurricane severity

It seems FLORIDA TODAY is compelled to frequently paint itself with another coat of green. That's OK, but to draw conclusions and prescribe solutions, one should separate unsubstantiated claims of enviro-radicals from factual data.

FLORIDA TODAY exhibits a near-frenetic concern over hurricane activity exacerbated by global warming. Data lends no support to an increasing number of hurricanes or their intensity.

During the first half of the 20th century, the average number of hurricanes making landfall on U.S. shores was 1.94 per year. During the last half, the number dropped to 1.41 per year.

As for intensity, the average maximum wind speed for Atlantic hurricanes has been declining for the last 60 years.

FLORIDA TODAY recently editorialized about a rising sea level in the Gulf of Mexico. What is happening there is a subsidence of the land. That has no relationship to purported global warming.

Incidentally, an episode occurred on the tiny South Pacific islands of Tuvalu, somewhat recently. The inhabitants, hearing all the hype about global warming and rising sea levels, demanded environmental refugee status and relocation to New Zealand.

Nothing came of their agitated state because Tuvalu is in an area where the sea level is dropping, not rising.

David P. Whiteside

Indialantic

Florida's wildlife defines our state

Recently I took a trip on a kayak run called Juniper Creek, where a woman was killed by an alligator, as national news reported last spring. It's a gorgeous trip and still is gorgeous, but for the fact that there are no longer any alligators there, nor much of any wildlife.

According to sources, the U.S. National Forest Service, which operates Ocala National Forest, went in after the death and "stripped" the creek of all significant alligators -- at least 13 -- including a famous one named "Herman" who used to harmlessly follow along canoes, making the journey both memorable and thrilling.

One wonders: Was it really necessary to kill every reptile in sight? How often can we blame wildlife for our own mistakes?

Is this going to happen elsewhere is Florida? Has it already?

Florida is a state that better think about the nature that is being so severely threatened.

From fish to manatees, our wildlife distinguish and define us. So do our springs -- which are dwindling due to all the new wells.

Please, Florida, wake up before it's too late, and before we all lose what lured us here in the first place.

Michael H. Brown

Palm Coast

Clean up accident sites on roadways

Recently there have been two serious nighttime vehicle accidents on Turtlemound Road in Brevard County's jurisdiction.

In both instances, numerous items were left behind by emergency personnel, including plastic gloves, medical supply wrappers and other dangerous items that could contaminate the surrounding areas.

In both accidents, many parts from the wrecked vehicles were left behind in a drainage ditch, and the scene looked like someone had dumped a truckload of trash at the site.

Is some agency responsible for cleanup? At minimum, the medical waste and supplies should be properly disposed of to prevent contamination and danger to wildlife and humans.

Robert V. Stonesifer, Jr.

Melbourne

Chlorine plants spread mercury pollution

Mercury has clearly accumulated in more species than we once thought, as mentioned in the Oct. 29 FLORIDA TODAY story headlined "Mercury pollution broadens."

This should be no surprise with more than forty mercury-emitting facilities in Florida. But it may be surprising to learn that an unrecognized source, chlorine factories, emit five times more mercury on average than the average power plant.

While there are no mercury-emitting chlorine plants in Florida, the Occidental Chemicals plant in Alabama, Pioneer and PPG plants in Louisiana, and Olin Corp. plant in Georgia represent half of the remaining mercury-emitting chlorine plants in the country.

Together these four plants emitted over 4,100 pounds of mercury into the air in 2004, which is close to double the total mercury air emissions of all forty Florida facilities.

Every year these four plants are allowed to continue to pollute is another year more mercury enters the environment, posing a health risk to humans and animals.

Already, 90 percent of the chlorine industry uses newer membrane-cell technology, which eliminates mercury use in chlorine plants. If each of the plants adapted the new technology, we all could feel confident that less mercury was being released to our environment.

Jackie Savitz

Washington, D.C.