Sunday, May 30,
2004
The Editor
The Lethbridge Herald
P.O. Box 670
Lethbridge
AB, T1J 3Z7
Dear Editor:
Re: Artful attribution to others or editorial error?
David Suzuki’s column today indicates that locally high carbon dioxide levels trap heat in cities to exacerbate warming there. (“Cities intensify existing climate problems”, 04/05/30, A4.) I’ve been following the climate change issue for fifteen years. This is the first time I’ve encountered this claim.
Dr. Suzuki loosely refers to a report from the Harvard Medical School as his source. He then goes on to indicate that the report discusses the warming role of carbon dioxide trapped in a “dome” over cities. There is a 28 page report on the Harvard Medical Web titled; “Inside the greenhouse: The impacts of CO2 and climate change on public health in the inner city”, by Epstein and Rogers. It is available at http://www.med.harvard.edu/chge/green.pdf . It is certain, from other passages quoted by Dr. Suzuki, that this is the article supporting much of the column. However, it does not mention a “dome”. It does not indicate that locally high CO2 concentrations in cities contribute to the “heat island effect”. I wonder where Dr. Suzuki’s information comes from.
We have recently read too much about the inadequate referencing of information sources by an undergraduate student of Athabasca University. Is there another standard for newspaper columns? Is it ok for them to indicate that others have said what they have not? I don’t think so. Could the Herald’s editors have removed some essential information in the interest of brevity? Someone owes your readers a clarification and/or an apology for this disingenuous column.
Yours truly,
Duane Pendergast