Time to talk about climate change

Some say it’s too soon after the hurricanes to talk about climate change, which has been shown to cause wetter rains, drier droughts, larger forest fires and more intense storms. Does bringing it up now amount to using people’s suffering for political purposes?

To the contrary. Political biases cause silence about climate change and denial of human-caused global warming. Those who profit from extracting and burning fossil fuels are funding and promoting skepticism about established science. Tobacco companies used the same strategy to avoid addressing lung disease caused by smoking.

As the U.S. military has asserted, global warming is a threat multiplier. Yet, there is hope — if we address the problem and implement the hundreds of proven solutions. For information on solutions, see citizensclimatelobby.org and drawdown.org. Join forces with friends, neighbors and family to advocate for action at the local, state and federal levels. The problem will not solve itself.

This story was originally published September 19, 2017 at 3:55 PM with the headline "Time to talk about climate change."