Reader's View: We're responsible, so must fix climate change - Duluth News Tribune
Reader's View: We’re responsible, so must fix climate change - Duluth News Tribune | News, weather, and sports from Duluth, Minnesota
Reader's View: We’re responsible, so must fix climate change
We have met the enemy, and it is us.
Recent news stories confirm what science predicted 20-plus years ago: record temperatures, flooding, forest fires, crop failure, and drought due to human-caused global climate change.
In 2018, the California Camp Fire destroyed more than 18,000 structures at a cost of more than $10 billion. This month, Phoenix experienced 20-plus consecutive days with temps above 110 degrees. Minnesota is currently experiencing drought for its third year in a row. July 3-5, 2023, were reportedly the hottest days on earth since 1979 — and likely much longer. Huge forest fires in Canada have resulted in poor air quality in large portions of the U.S. Major flooding occurred in Pennsylvania in mid-July and the week before in Vermont.
This excessive heat, flooding, fires, and poor air quality has caused much death and destruction in recent years.
In 2008, Sarah Palin encouraged her campaign crowds to chant, “Drill, baby, drill!” With severe shortsightedness, they blindly connected more oil only with cheaper gas. But cheap gas would have also increased the onset and severity of global climate change. Insurance premiums would have risen faster and sooner, consuming any savings on gas, perhaps many times over.
We have met the enemy, and it is us. We humans are the cause of this destructive climate change, and are responsible for the solution. Fortunately, we have started the process of converting to renewable energy, but we can do much more as individuals by being conscious of our decisions and their impact on the environment. Thousands of small acts can make a difference. Every aluminum can that gets recycled is part of the solution.
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By living more responsibly, we can leave our children and grandchildren a better world. And don’t we all want that? Let’s exert our personal power, be responsible, and make a positive difference!
Byron Kuster
Moose Lake
Email submissions to: letters@duluthnews.com
Include a full name, address and daytime phone number. Only names and hometowns will be published.
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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.