If nine doctors told me I had cancer, and one told me I might not, I would seek immediate treatment. Apparently, M.D. Harmon would bet his life on the one. Mr. Harmon ignores the conclusions reached by the overwhelming majority of the world’s climate scientists, who have told us for years that burning coal, oil, and natural gas is changing the climate (“We can’t solve our problems with magical thinking,” June 3).

The National Academy of Sciences issued a definitive report concluding that climate change is occurring and is caused in large part by human activities. Climate impacts have been documented in the Northeast, including warmer annual temperatures, more 90 plus degree days, more rain in winter, warmer oceans, rising sea levels, and earlier ice outs.

A Stanford University study concludes that large areas of the globe are likely to warm up so quickly that, by the middle of this century, even the coolest summers will be hotter than the hottest summers of the past 50 years. The recent record floods, drought and storms throughout the U.S. bear the fingerprints of climate change. The good news is that we can both avoid the worst of climate change and create a vibrant new green economy. ENE (Environment Northeast) has provided a roadmap to a low carbon energy future using existing technologies. Investing in energy efficiency and clean energy resources are engines of economic growth that would create thousands of new jobs and pump billions into the Maine economy.

Other clean energy technologies — like electric vehicles and more efficient lighting and appliances — are on the way.

Despite having received both the diagnosis and the cure, Congress and the world collectively have repeatedly failed to act. We must demand that they stop pushing the gravest of all threats to humanity to the back burner, and take effective action before the clock runs out.

 

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