Now that denying the existence of a planetary environmental crisis is no longer viable, expect the talking heads of our media and political environment to start asserting that we must “balance” climate change mitigation with economic expansion, a stance that has the advantage of being temporarily plausible until we remember that infinite growth is impossible on a finite surface.

By asserting the fiscal returns to be expected from a melted Arctic, Gov. LePage goes a step further, embracing a global catastrophe as a potential profit center (“LePage points to climate change as plus for Maine,” Dec. 6). Which is, quite simply, insane.

Remember the old saw, “health is our greatest wealth”? The Earth’s health is the foundation of all human prosperity, and our planet’s resources (water, food, the environment’s ability to process our wastes) are limited.

Impressive quarterly returns won’t protect our grandchildren from rising sea levels, agricultural collapses, oceanic acidification and the other consequences of an accelerating greenhouse effect.

Warren Senders

Medford, Mass., and formerly of Columbia Falls


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