We didn’t see that coming.
Extreme drought in the west. Extreme wildfires out west. Flooding in the southeast. More and stronger hurricanes. More tornadoes. Dangerous heat in the west. The drying of the Great Salt Lake. Possibly a high-rise condo on a barrier island collapsing. Rivers flooding in Europe.
These are occurring due in part to misinformation campaigns by the oil industry and by climate change-deniers on social media. We can’t solve this crisis by recycling more, eating less red meat, planting trees and driving hybrids. Even electric vehicles will need a source of electricity but not produced by coal or oil.
We have to do something big now at the source of the problem. Our climate will get worse if we don’t. The cost of reducing carbon dioxide will be less than the cost of deaths, replacing homes, crops, and forests. Ask the House and Senate to put a fee on carbon at its source and give a dividend derived from these fees to us. This will compel other nations to follow us and maybe it’s not too late.
John Swisher, State College
This article originally appeared in the Centre Daily Times.