EDITOR

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Clean energy needed

Dear Editor: These are some tough times. Inflation at a fortyyear high, so painfully evident at the gas pump and in the grocery store; record-breaking heat waves, wildfires, drought, and flooding, both in the U.S. and around the world; heat-trapping carbon dioxide at a four million-year high in our atmosphere. What do we do?

Some folks say we should double down on oil and gas production. But then we’d also be doubling down on the heat waves, wildfires, flooding, and drought, to the long-term detriment of everyone.

Instead, how about doubling down on our transition to a clean energy economy? It will be financially challenging, but ultimately less so than having to pay for the ever-increasing costs of climate-related disasters and in the long run, we—and this planet we all live on—will be much better off.

Our parents/grandparents/great-grandparents faced some tough times. Having endured the Great Depression, they found themselves immediately confronted with the challenges arising from World War II. They met those challenges by rationing gas, food items, and a host of other goods and materials; growing victory gardens; paying higher taxes to finance the war effort; and for some, making the ultimate sacrifice. They did it all with that most admirable “can do” attitude for the ultimate benefit of all of us.

Are we up to taking on these tough times in a manner that will benefit our children/grandchildren/ great-grandchildren? I think we are. As Rosie the Riveter once said, “We can do it!”

Bill Bussey Bayfield