DEAR EDITOR:

A recent editorial encouraging Democratic candidates’ incremental proposals, like carbon capture, to mitigate the impact of climate change, contradicted the Tribune’s own publication. The front page of the same issue featured Hurricane Dorian, the strongest hurricane ever measured in the Atlantic. On the back page of that section, a story on Pacific warming explained the threat to whales, salmon, shellfish and marine ecosystems and economies.

We have ignored 40 years of science-based warning, and worse, ramped up fossil fuel production in the Valley, tying our fragile economy to an industry that is increasingly imperiling human survival. The costs of flooding has left local communities reeling, and in Ohio, cost agriculture and forestry billions this year alone. Warming air and water will make flooding worse and will threaten the oxygen-carrying ability of our lakes and rivers.

Had we made incremental changes decades ago, we might have avoided catastrophic changes and costs roaring toward us. But we didn’t, and as the editorial rightly points out, we must make sure the most vulnerable don’t bear the lion’s share of those burdens. We need politicians and editorial boards to show leadership in telling the truth, and foster carbon-neutral energy policies and investment in renewable energy and energy-saving technologies. Massive change is upon us. I argue for driving the change, rather than being run over by it.

KAREN SCHUBERT

Youngstown