I appreciate that news publications are increasingly covering our planet’s worsening climate crisis. I read recently that May was the 12th consecutive month with average temperatures higher than all observations since 1850—probably the highest in more than 100,000 years.
Shortly after that, I found out that California has in one year seen a doubling in the sale of electric buses, vans, and trucks. To combat despair, we need more information such as this to give us encouragement and hope for transformative solutions.
It is unfortunate that California has curtailed its incentive programs to encourage more residents to put solar on their roofs. That is the very opposite of the governmental actions that are needed to lower CO2 emissions.
And, quoting Joan Baez, we need to remember that “action is the antidote to despair.” Positive actions could include taking steps to reduce the fossil fuel use in our own lives and calmly conversing with others about climate change. This is in addition to full-steam-ahead actions by our government at all levels.
We are now in the most consequential race in human history—a contest between our suicidal use of fossil fuels on the one hand and, on the other, actions and policies that transition us away from the dangerous path we’re now on. I’m hopeful that with all of us working together, we still have time to preserve a livable planet for Earth’s inhabitants.
Jim Wright
San Luis Obispo
