Dear Editor:

Replying to the letter, An inconvenient truth (May 23, 2024).

Temperature records are only one indication of global warming. Global surface temperature has been rising since the Industrial Revolution, due to the burning of the fossil fuels, oil, gas and coal. Scientists use data from satellites, weather balloons, thermometers and weather stations to make these determinations. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has found that global surface temperature is now 1.18C above the 20th century average. The level of CO2 in the atmosphere has been measured since the 1950s at the Mauna Loa observatory. CO2 and methane trap heat that would normally travel back into space and keeps it trapped in our atmosphere. 

According to the earthobservory.nasa.gov, website, the year 2023, was the warmest since temperature records began in the 1850s. The past nine years have also been the warmest, since records began. The Natural Resource Council of Maine has cautioned that unless greenhouse gas emissions fall, the Maine coast will be inundated with rising sea levels, storm surges, and damaging floods in our near future. We saw extensive damage along Ocean Point this past spring. It’s better to work together towards solutions than to pretend this isn’t happening.

Marcia Annenberg 

Boothbay Harbor