As a retired high school science teacher, I would like to commend Edgar Allen Beem for bringing attention to the urgency of the climate crisis, and for pointing out that the overwhelming consensus among climate scientists is that the crisis is man-made (“The Universal Notebook: Unusual weather we’re having, isn’t it?”).

U.S. Sen. Angus King has said that climate change is not a Democratic or Republican issue, but one of science. And science tells us that the majority of fossil fuels need to stay in the ground for us to avoid runaway climate change. With this awareness, failure to act on what we know to be the truth amounts to the worst kind of irresponsibility.

Yet the fossil fuel industry has put vast sums into denying the science and fostering a climate of doubt. The CEOs of this industry and their purchased politicians should all be prosecuted for willful negligence in denying the truth of climate change.

What’s called for is a space-race style national effort to move to a clean energy economy, which would exist as a model for the world. We need to impose a carbon fee that would help pay for that effort. We need to ask our towns and state, our faith communities, our colleges and universities to divest from fossil fuels to send a clear message to the industry that a new business model is needed. We need to take action now for the sake of our grandchildren and for every living creature on the planet.

Billy Rixon
Freeport

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