To the Editor:

Keep climate change in mind when you vote

Posted

Monday’s drenching rain is no traditional April spring shower. I wonder how our plants and wildlife deal with quick extreme weather challenges?

Many of us don’t directly feel the impact while sheltered in our air-conditioned spaces. In heavy prolonged rain, my honeybees cannot forage to feed their burgeoning spring brood. Washed-away flower nectar and pollen take time to replenish.

With Earth’s rapidly warming climate due to our ever-increasing fossil-fueled energy appetite, we face a serious biodiversity crisis, often referred to as the 6th extinction. Unlike past geological mass extinctions, this one is due to our single species’ reliance on coal, oil, and natural gas fossil fuel energy sources (since the 1750’s Industrial Revolution) emitting carbon dioxide persisting in the atmosphere from 300 to 1,000 years causing progressive global warming.

The current rapid species loss is estimated by experts between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than the natural background extinction rate that would occur if we humans were not around. How do we solve this rapid degree of biodiversity loss? One important way is to vote for candidates concerned about climate change and for carbon pricing policies in our upcoming N.C. primaries on May 17 and elections on November 8.

Minta Phillips
Julian