Letter to the Editor - Johnson City Press; February 2016

Don’t deny the climate is in change

The earth once tropical and then glaciated does change due to natural phenomenon. Climate change this time is caused by one species, us.

Can’t accept climate change, maybe global warming or climate disruption? A minor number of politicians reject the assumption. This past December, 196 countries met in Paris for the global climate conference to strike an accord on carbon dioxide emissions. The accord makes promises for CO2 reduction. The U.S. Congress should implement reasonable methods for the reduction and citizens should also reduce their carbon footprint to reduce impact. 

Climate change is impacting national and global events: droughts, floods, sea level change, radical snow events, melting ice-sheets, tectonic plate instability, agriculture changes and more.

It is essential we change our source of energy. We can reduce consumption of fossil fuels and alter our energy use. Demand politicians to seek alternate forms of energy and understand the science that clearly demonstrates the risk.  One solution is Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL) seeking legislation for a fee and dividend approach. Discontinue the dependency on fossil fuels and leave the product in the ground. Encourage the alternative energy of solar power.

We need to act, to act now, and we need to understand the risks and expect our politicians to be knowledgeable and act in our best interests. Humans have an ability to change their environment. We have done so with agriculture, technology and energy, and medicine. During the last century human numbers have more than quadrupled. That is a lot of fossil fuel use once under ground now impacting our climate.