TO THE EDITOR
Letter: The science is clear, humans are causing global warming and related climate changes



Carol Coleman
Fri, December 10, 2021

I’m very concerned about the impacts of climate change on the lives of my future grandchildren. Instead of becoming paralyzed by fear or counting on magic, though, I’ve become active in the Central Illinois chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) to learn more.

I don’t believe every headline I read about climate change, but I do trust briefings by the experts working for CCL. They draw on extensively vetted, peer-reviewed reports that represent the consensus of thousands of scientists, such as the latest IPCC report (https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-i/). The science is unequivocal: humans are causing global warming and related changes that the world is currently experiencing.

The weather-related disasters and fires of recent years show that agriculture, fisheries, water supplies, and infrastructure around the world are vulnerable to climate change. I’m troubled when I read letters to the State Journal-Register that suggest that we don’t need to be concerned. Rather, America needs to share the burden when people living in more vulnerable locations are affected by climate change since we have significantly contributed to causing it.

A prudent way to minimize risk of increasingly devastating climate impacts to our health, economy, and ecosystems is to immediately begin reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Our government must stop subsidizing the production of fossil fuels and impose a sensible price on carbon emissions. To learn how this can work, I invite you to visit our CCL chapter and meet a community dedicated to finding bipartisan solutions to climate change through respectful dialogue. citizensclimatelobby.org

Carol Coleman, Springfield

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Minimize risks of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions