Chicken Little's warning
EDITOR: It's obvious now that Chicken Little was right: the climate is changing radically and rapidly. The Nov. 13 letter "Climate-driven disaster" and the Friday op-ed article "Kiribati faces its grim future - and a rising ocean" provide yet more evidence that Earth is undergoing changes on a massive scale, changes that are relentless and accelerating whether we choose to accept or deny.
In his book "The Great Disruption," Paul Gilding explains a crucial concept that we dare not ignore: the extreme weather events that we witness today are the result of actions and inactions from 10 to 20 years ago. We have no control over the past. But we do have some control over the present. What we do or do not do today will determine what weather conditions will be 10 to 20 years from now. Extreme weather events are like a snowball rolling downhill: it goes faster and grows larger.
Occasionally someone will tell me, "I don't care. I'll be dead by then." Has it really come to this, that we care only about ourselves and not those who come after us? Just imagine the devastation that our inactions may heap on our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren? Can we be so heartless?
GENE A. HOTTEL
Santa Rosa
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