Readers respond: Protecting mountains from climate change - OregonLive
Readers respond: Protecting mountains from climate change - oregonlive.com
The article on climate change’s effect on mountains was particularly appropriate both because it was published on National Mountain Climbing Day and because it followed the hottest July in recorded history, (“ Mountains are under threat from climate change. Here’s what it means for you,” Aug. 1).
The piece noted that the mountain ranges most at risk include North American Pacific ranges such as the Cascades, Sierra Nevada and coastal ranges. It helpfully concluded with a nine-point list of what individuals could do to help protect them. The article also noted that without as much snowpack accumulation, our glacial peaks may soon lose their white caps.
The image of Mount Hood has been adopted by Portlanders as a symbol of our city. But we will lose so much more than our long-time icon if the current pattern of climate change continues. We all need to actively press our legislators, including Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, to support bills like the Prove IT Act, along with other policies such as carbon pricing. This can help slow the destruction of the nature we have enjoyed for so long.
Mark Schorr, Portland
To read more letters to the editor, go to oregonlive.com/opinion.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate science
What began as a theory in the 1890s — that industrial emissions of carbon dioxide could increase global temperatures — had progressed to a scientific fact a century later. Scientists across a range of disciplines are studying the impact of the still-growing concentration of carbon dioxide and other so-called “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere as they call for industrial and governmental policies to slow, then halt, the warming of the planet.