Will climate denial be complicity in murder?

Anyone who reads the paper or follows the news is now well aware that global warming is altering the planet in terrifying ways and knows our time for serious action to save the planet is short.

Yet there are members of the Trump Administration and the GOP who continue to deny the danger. And we know why: the fossil fuel merchants are serious donors and they want to squeeze out as much profit as possible from their planet-killing products. The result of this denial is a drag on the efforts needed to avoid catastrophe.

So how should we treat the deniers? Are they actually complicit in the murder of the thousands who will die as the globe continues to warm? Should they be sued for the damage to houses and crops that are lost due to global warming's effects? We held the tobacco companies accountable for their denial of the cancerous effect of their products when they knew full-well its effects. How are these deniers any different?

Lee Knohl

Evanston