No Hoax, Folks

I want to thank Linda Perrine for her Viewpoint piece (EW, 7/18) and her activism with 350.org. I applaud her efforts. Having said that, I wish to share some things not commonly understood about addressing climate change.

Even though this issue has been widely known for 30 years, the human family is burning more fossil fuels than ever before. This is because fossil fuels provide an extremely useful, compact energy density that solar and wind do not.

Try pushing your car the distance you can drive on one gallon of gasoline. Amazing! There are countless things we do with fossil fuels that are far less easily achieved with solar and wind generated electricity.

It is for this reason that the personal responsibility Perrine alludes to is not enough. Some may voluntarily drive less, etc., but most will not.

For this reason, we need leaders who will actually lead and force the dramatic and sweeping changes in our world that meaningfully addressing climate change calls for. People will complain bitterly, but they need to be told: “Here’s what we’re doing, and this pallet of document boxes is the scientific research supporting our decision. So, please stop shouting and start reading.”

Robert Bolman

Eugene