Letter of the Day: Silence on climate

Silence on climate

EDITOR: The elephant in the room of the presidential debates was climate change. Not a mention of it. But climate change continues to accelerate — Arctic ice melting at record levels, a record drought in the Midwest last summer, record firestorms around the world and, now, Hurricane Sandy. Expect more records to fall as global warming adds heat to the atmosphere, spawning bigger storms, melting more ice, raising sea levels, acidifying the oceans and spreading famine and species extinction.

Where do the candidates stand? President Barack Obama has a mixed history on the issue. He has promoted cap and trade to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and greatly increased auto mileage standards, but he allowed increased drilling during his term. Mitt Romney has clearly shifted in the tea party's "drill, baby, drill" direction. He is now promoting more drilling, building the pipeline to bring oil from Canadian tar sands to the Gulf, encouraging more coal extraction (the greatest source of carbon dioxide emissions) and defunding alternative energy supports. I'm not sure of the wisdom of creating jobs at the price of killing the planet.

Think about this when you vote.

MICHAEL KRIKORIAN

Windsor