Editor,

I read with great interest Joseph Sheldon’s column about climate change.

Far be it from me to challenge a PhD’s numbers, but, alas I must. Dr. Sheldon states that a gigaton is a million tons.

How do I say this tactfully? Dr. Sheldon, a gigaton is, in fact, a billion tons. You have understated the severity of the problem of burning fossil fuels by a very large margin.

I guess we’re going to need a March For Math.

I say all of this as someone with a BS (we all know what that means), and a PhD that means — in my case — Piled Higher and Deeper.

Thank you, Dr. Sheldon, for an excellent, albeit modestly enumerated, explanation of the issue.

Carl Leonard

Coupeville