CLIMATE CHANGE: Failure to believe is driving crisis

In Sunday’s paper there were two interesting publications regarding climate change. One was a letter to the editor claiming ice growing was proof there is no climate change, and the second was two pages detailing how “climate change is fueling the disappearance of the Aral Sea.” The second piece explained the impact climate change has had on a community in Uzbekistan.

I wish I could turn a blind eye to the evidence and facts that man, all of us, have contributed to the destruction of the very Earth we depend on to survive, but if I do, I’m part of the problem, not the solution. Plastic, an oil-based product, is choking our oceans, which in turn is destroying the animal and plant life we need. Deforestation is depleting our air supply, lessening the moisture in the air, causing droughts, eroding the land, destroying more animal and plant life. Fossil Fuel and chemical burning is polluting the air.

If we keep believing there is no climate change crisis, that people aren’t the cause, we will continue deluding ourselves and being complicit in our own ruin. There will be more erratic weather, more devastating storms, more fires, more life taking extremes, less drinkable water, less breathable air. Just because the crisis has not hit our backyard yet, doesn’t make it any less true, or any less imminent.

GERI HAGLER

Coeur d’Alene