A paper circulated with that petition is titled "Environmental Effects of Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide" and claims that increased carbon dioxide concentration is actually good for the planet.

In fact, none of the paper's authors is a climate scientist, and the paper has not been published in any peer-reviewed journal. Several of the authors work at a conservative think tank which does not do any science of its own. Among the petition signers, there is little verification of whether they are actually scientists, and hardly any are climate researchers.

A casual search of the Internet for information on global warming turns up many such skeptic sites and papers. These make it appear as if there is major controversy among climate scientists. In fact, legitimate climate researchers are nearly unanimous in their view that global warming is real and likely to have catastrophic effects. It takes some effort to sort out the actual science from the propaganda on the Internet.

The Tribune is right on target.

Tom Moyer

Salt Lake City