In response to the Kent Reporters’ online article, “Governor’s Clean Air Rule order draws Senate-bill opposition”, Jan. 20:

In using the term “carbon pollution,” Gov. Jay Inslee is using doublespeak. What the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines as “language used to deceive usually through concealment or misrepresentation of truth.” “Carbon pollution” really means carbon dioxide (CO2), an invisible, odorless gas on which all life depends.

This is more than just an academic point. It is an example of how misleading language has poisoned the climate debate. Calling CO2 “carbon pollution” encourages people to think of it as something dirty, like graphite or soot.

Calling CO2 by its proper name would help people remember that, regardless of its role in climate change, a topic of intense debate in the science community, it is really an invisible, odorless gas essential to plant photosynthesis.

– Tom Harris, engineer, executive director, International Climate Science Coalition