Elect those who will deal with dangers of climate change

Thank you for the commentaries printed in The Tribune each day. Noted columnists Nicholas Kristof, David Brooks and Leonard Pitts are among those I look forward to reading, each one giving me a different viewpoint through which to see the world beyond San Luis Obispo.

In Kristof’s commentary “Terrorists, bathtubs and snakes” (March 28), he took on one of my concerns, the seeming lack of interest by so many about climate change, writing not to climate change deniers, but to those who choose to ignore the scary subject. He contrasts how we overreact to the fear of terrorist attacks but merely “yawn” when reading climate scientist James Hansen’s recent report warning of weather changes caused by rapidly melting land ice that might “inundate coastal cities and cause storms more horrendous than any in modern history.”

Kristof writes, “this year’s election choices may shape coastlines 10,000 years from now.” Twenty-one Florida mayors, whose cities are already being flooded by rising sea levels, recently urged presidential candidates to discuss climate change. Our legislators and leaders have the power and the systems to fight climate change, but we must elect those who will actually do it.

This story was originally published April 9, 2016 at 9:45 PM with the headline "Elect those who will deal with dangers of climate change."