Reasonable people can no longer deny the reality of climate change. This weekend in Kalispell, temperatures broke all-time highs for June. In Pakistan, a relentless heat wave claimed over 1,000 lives and another heat wave killed 2,300 people in India. Pope Francis has accepted the existence of climate change. These changes are permanent and are guaranteed to get worse in the future. We need to resist the temptation to live in a fool’s paradise.
Glacier Park hosts about 2 million visitors annually, many of whom notice our beautiful, well-watered and cool valley ringed by snow-capped mountains. In coming years, we can expect a flood of climate refugees to move into this area. Our forests here are going to dry out, catch on fire and a lot of timber and some homes will get burned up. We can expect very hot and dry periods alternating with bitterly cold episodes like the winter of 2013-2014.
We cannot have business as usual any longer. Climate change is an urgent issue: the time for talk is over. Climate change is an important moral issue. What kind of planet are we going to give to our children and grandchildren? Climate change is an important economic issue: the economic damage from climate change is already great and continues to rise.
The fossil fuel industry TV ads reminding us that they are “delivering the energy we need” are squarely wrong. The U.S. must undertake a major program to convert our economy to renewable energy. Stop voting for candidates who deny or waffle about climate change and vote for candidates who vow to do something about it. Support the president in his efforts to combat climate change. And let our Congress know that we will not tolerate a legislature that is corrupted by the fossil fuel lobby.
Lowell Rathbun
Kila