The elephant in every room during this presidential election is climate change. This elephant is a symbol of denial and ironically also the symbol of the Republican Party, biggest deniers of climate change.

But I don’t hear anyone in my own party talking much about it either. Of course Ted Cruz, the No. 1 recipient of contributions from the gas and oil industry during 2015-16, is not mentioning it. He doesn’t “believe” in climate change. What about Hillary Clinton?

Corporations may be people but they are not very principled people. Making a profit is their primary goal so it is up to the “real” people and their government to provide some rules of fair play for corporations to live by. Because these rules often hurt their bottom line, corporations oppose them.

They hope to bribe politicians to not initiate, not enact, not enforce laws that interfere with their operations. And because the gas and oil industry is highly profitable, they have the money to persuade politicians to be on their side. Just because a politician receives money doesn’t mean they can’t initiate, enact, enforce such laws, but politicians looking toward the next election may see this source as an easy way to finance a campaign. You can see how this affects our efforts to stop climate change.

The Earth is a fragile place right now. She is suffering disruption and destruction because of our reluctance to rein in these corporations. Maldives, whose island home is being erased by rising seawater, has become a recruitment zone for ISIS. Can you imagine why?

This is the real opportunity to make America greater than ever. Let’s demonstrate that we can be cooperative citizens of the world and work together with other nations to solve this problem that the entire family of man is facing.

Muriel Allen

Portland

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