Elizabeth Shackelford’s column warning of the impacts of climate change is frightening and depressing. (“Climate change’s heat is baking us to death. We must act,” July 10). To those of us who endured the storms and extreme heat over the Fourth of July, it is horrifying to imagine a grim future with even hotter summers, more dangerous storms, floods and drought here and across the world. The fundamental systems of our planet are approaching desperate physical tipping points. The situation may seem hopeless, but we cannot give up on the work to restore a livable world for our kids and future generations.
Most Americans want to see action on climate change. There is a range of actions any of us can take. We must vote for candidates who support policies that cut carbon pollution and protect our communities and the environment from severe weather events. We should demand that the federal government stop paying billions of taxpayer dollars in subsidies to fossil fuel companies, reject legal immunity for these polluters and tax their profits. We can urge members of Congress to streamline the permitting process for clean energy projects while preserving responsible environmental reviews and community engagement. We can tell state lawmakers to pass bills that make it easier for people to install solar panels on their roofs and balconies. We should ask our state representatives to require state pension funds to stop investing in publicly traded fossil fuel companies. In our personal lives, we can choose to reduce our energy consumption with energy-efficient appliances or vehicles.
We must stay committed to accelerating the transition to renewable energy to save our beautiful planet from the catastrophic impacts of climate change. We cannot waste time.
— Sheila Brown, Evanston
Children are inspiration to act
No one’s asked me recently: “Hot enough for you?” It’s not appropriate banter; people are dying. And it’s probably going to get worse.
Most experts, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, agree the planet is warming. Denying climate change is a fool’s errand (my words), as demonstrated by Elizabeth Shackelford in her column.
Shackelford points a finger at the culprits in the U.S. who have blocked the mitigation of climate change, including the usual suspects guided by favoritism, greed and bad science. However, she is savvy enough to refrain from imploring our gridlocked legislators to take action. Rather, she appeals to us average Americans who feel the deleterious effects of higher food and insurance costs and personal loss of loved ones.
The struggle to lobby our representatives to finally do something meaningful can be exhausting and discouraging. But we can take heart in the stunning photo by Tribune photojournalist Eileen T. Meslar, which appears with Shackelford’s column. It shows children cooling off at the Crown Fountain in Millennium Park. What better incentive do we have than acting to protect our children’s future?
— Jerry Levy, Deerfield
The issue with Strait of Hormuz
The July 12 wire article “Hundreds of firefighters battling inferno in Spain” quotes the Spanish justice minister calling the wildfire a “climate emergency.”
Given the extensive coverage on the need to address greenhouse gases, you would think the recent spikes in oil prices due to the current struggle over the Strait of Hormuz, where 20% of the world’s oil is transported, would be viewed as a much-needed impetus toward a renewable energy future. The Tribune has reported that renewable energy has become competitive with fossil fuels, and it has chronicled the environmental damage fossil fuel extraction can wreak, such as the issues with plugging oil wells downstate.
During the OPEC oil embargo in the 1970s, American automakers were caught flat-footed by high mileage Japanese imports. That rivalry led to a decade or so of significant gains in miles per gallon across the board that then stagnated until the advent of hybrid vehicles, which offered a mpg leap.
If widespread use of electric vehicles and the renewable energy to fuel them are the climate saviors they have been made out to be and are truly viable, then all the angst over the situation in the Strait of Hormuz ought to be looked at as a steppingstone to what this planet needs.
— J.D. Colwell, Chicago
We need permitting reform
It’s probably not climate change setting daily temperature and rainfall records or causing far too little rain where it’s really needed. It has nothing to do with wildfires becoming more frequent and more devastating or floods destroying people’s homes and lives. Illinois always had the most tornadoes and air so smoky that some days we can hardly breathe outside. Right?
If you’re a Democrat, you might lose elections by talking about the climate too much. If you’re a Republican, you might upset someone by saying “climate change.”
Is this why “climate hushing” is the trend? We’re never going to solve problems by pretending they don’t exist. We need to talk about them.
Most Americans understand that our changing climate is increasingly painful to our health and our wallets. Humans did not evolve to thrive in these conditions, and it is showing in disease and mortality rates where pollution, temperatures and rainfall (or lack thereof) are excessive. Property insurance is so expensive in flooding, storm and fire zones that homeownership becomes harder.
Today, it takes too long to build anything, including clean energy to meet rapidly expanding power needs. Delays in infrastructure projects cost time and money, with the Business Roundtable, whose members are CEOs, recently estimating that streamlined permitting would unlock $1.5 trillion in potential investment and accelerate gross domestic product growth by as much as $2.4 trillion. Processes can be improved without compromising the environment or local involvement, and since most energy projects are for clean energy, permitting reform would help address climate change.
Don’t be afraid to talk about climate change, especially with your members of Congress! With both sides agreeing we have a problem, now is the time for durable permitting reform legislation.
— Thomas Rausch, Glen Ellyn
Funding to stop climate change
What’s it going to take to convince President Donald Trump and his MAGA supporters that climate change is real and that suffocating smoke from Canadian wildfires and massive floods in Texas are not exceptions but a stark prophecy of the future?
Surely, if this country can afford to build monuments to its self-appointed king, it can also find the funding to fight the incineration of our planet.
— Bob Ory, Elgin
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