It’s undoubtedly hot and getting hotter (“Tuesday set an unofficial record for the hottest day on Earth. Wednesday may break it,” July 5). Mainers and Wisconsinites like me will have to get used to running our air conditioners much more. I wish mine used green energy; instead, it’s making heat waves worse.
It’s wishful thinking (or willful ignorance) to blame relentlessly rising global temperatures on El Niño, which has only a small, transient role in the approaching climate train wreck. We broke the climate, we own it, we have to fix it and we’re running out of time.
The problem is, fossil fuels made America rich and powerful, but we can no longer afford to burn them. Individuals can’t solve the problem by adjusting the thermostat, riding bicycles or eschewing factory-farmed beef. Our culture precludes it. We need pervasive cultural change.
That may not be as improbable as it seems, because in cultural systems, as in all systems, everything is connected to everything else. Most of us realize the urgency of addressing climate change. Bipartisan political will to find solutions is growing rapidly.
I believe we can leave the fossils in the ground. A cascade of positive cultural changes will follow, giving us a future that at the very least avoids the worst consequences of climate change.
Carol Steinhart
Madison, Wis.
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