The bigger picture on climate change
Andy Murphy’s letter, “Fighting Carbon ... With Carbon” (Dec. 2), expressed a fascination with the fact that climate change activists in Baywood Park had created a peace sign using plastic kayaks. He implies that the activists are hypocrites, using carbon products to highlight the need to change our energy policies.
If we lay the kayaks used in this demonstration end to end, the distance from the first to the last is the distance by which Mr. Murphy misses the point.
The demonstrators probably drove cars that day, ate food, wore clothes ... all requiring energy and creating waste. Some activists flew to Paris to participate in actions at the climate change conference. Airplanes, though polluting, are not the point of the action in Baywood Park.
The point Mr. Murphy is missing is this: It’s a big world out there. As large as it is, we humans are in the process of making it uninhabitable. However, we can make decisions that preserve and protect it. This is what matters now.
Yes, on a personal level, it is preferable for us all to use less plastic and fossil fuels. But, the big picture — global energy policies — is what matters now.
Kayaks and paddles are not significant.
Steven Pax, San Luis Obispo
This story was originally published December 15, 2015 at 4:27 AM with the headline "The bigger picture on climate change."