If you have ever been in Lafayette, Louisiana, you know how important crawfish (mudbugs) are. Delicious boiled and sublime in crawfish étouffée, they are an important part of Louisiana culture. The Feb. 17 CBS Mornings show reported there was only 20% of the usual haul of crawfish this year. The reporter talked about excessive heat and a change in rain patterns as the reasons. Similarly, the Portland Press Herald, earlier this year, made the connection between the devastating floods Maine experienced and climate change. Neither CBS nor the PPH went the next step to talk about why climate change is happening. They did not explain that it is largely because of our continued use of fossil fuels.

Five years ago, when natural disasters occurred, the media did not make the connection to climate change so they have made progress. Now they should discuss the causes of climate change, explaining that burning fossil fuels is responsible for 75% of CO2 emissions. Renewable energy is now more economical to build than fossil fuel plants. Our government subsidizes fossil fuels and the fossil fuel industry greenwashes their business. It is time the media starts pointing this out.

The world is emitting more CO2 than years ago when promises were made at international meetings to decrease CO2. If people understood this fossil fuel connection, we would move quickly to a sustainable world and leave a livable planet for our children and grandchildren. Climate change would no longer seem an unsolvable problem.

Nancy Hasenfus
Brunswick

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