Letter: We need more scientists guiding climate policy
When we see a nice beach and revel at its enduring beauty, it's easy to forget that a beach is made up of trillions of individual grains of sand.
These grains of sand are tiny parts of what were once larger stones. In some of today's issues we can fail to see the individual components when looking at the big picture.
To see what is happening with weather, one need only study the oceans. Warmer weather creates warmer water, causing more evaporation, heavier rains, higher water levels, flooding and erosion. Warmer air bakes the soil. High-pressure systems drive water-soaking low-pressure systems into unusual patterns. Dry soil with no rain leads to less grain and grass, resulting in insufficient food for livestock and crops.
Food prices increase. Wildfires, tornadoes and hurricanes increase and become more costly. Glaciers and polar icecaps melt. Sea levels rise.
It is all logical and sequential, made worse by mankind filling the atmosphere with weather-changing toxins that are negatively affecting our everyday lives.
Why are overwhelming numbers of Republicans seeking to continue this slide to extinction? We're not living in a movie. The monetary masters who profit from this are constantly denying the reasons why this world is changing. From the very top of the Republican leadership to school boards, this denial of reality is a challenge to proven science.
Scientists like congressmen Sean Casten and Bill Foster are needed for our time to spearhead change if there is any hope for the future of our planet and for future generations living on it.
Jean Chrest
Lombard