— Arctic ice is melting at an increasing rate. See the Web site at http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/ArcticIce/ for more information.

— Yes, we used to dump pollution into the air and water, but we’ve taken strong measures to correct that, so that it is much less a problem. This can hardly be cited as an excuse for not taking action on global warming.

— Man’s actions are not insignificant in terms of the planet. One good-sized nuclear war would render most if not all of it uninhabitable.

— The Kyoto Protocol is beside the point. What we need are strong economic incentives to control greenhouse gases, as well as disincentives to produce them.

— Climatologists and glaciologists are not creating a global warming crisis to get more money. If Schwan thinks hundreds of scientists from dozens of countries with thousands of peer-reviewed studies in fields ranging from climatology to forest-fire management to agricultural production are conspiring to puff up a crisis that doesn’t exist, then there’s probably no fact-based arguments that can get through.

— Yes, it’s all about money. Recent articles in newspapers have described the effects of global warming on growing grapes and the extended brushfire season — just a few of the problems it will create. It’s not that we can’t afford to address global warming; we can’t afford not to address it. It will be cheaper to solve the problem than to compensate for its effects, one by one.

— Gloria Goldman, Ventura