Some question whether we can afford to reduce our carbon footprint, while honest climate data analysis suggests we can't afford not to reduce our carbon footprint.

Crop damage from mid-western dry heat waves won't help feed 2050's expected 9 billion people.

How do you protect the billion people in coastal areas from flooded homes?

Some say environmentalists are hypocrites who want to hurt the poor.

Who already pays for climate change? Is it those billion in coastal areas vulnerable to storm damage and flooding?

Who gets disease first? Is it those living in low air-quality zones, including "Cancer Alley," areas near refineries because that's all they can afford?

Who pays the health costs of pollution?

Renewable electricity is not produced by displacing food crops. Cats hurt wildlife far more than do wind turbines. Solar power installations are ideal for land too dry for crops, and residential solar panel installation can reduce heat wave-induced grid strain while reducing one's own need for air conditioning via reduced roof temperatures.

My 2000 Honda Insight with 244,000 miles averages 61 mpg while being more fun and reliable than a five-speed CRX DX. Five cents of pre-commute charging helps. With a small DIY solar panel installation, I average a $10- to $15-per-month electric bill.


The energy required to extract, transport and process Alberta tar sands petroleum is greater than the energy it makes available to move a vehicle, making it an energy sink, not source. As extraction goes deeper, using it to power transport will require ever-greater energy inputs.

Worshiping the status quo is not, and has not been, the American way. American can-do innovative engineering won World War II and got us to the moon. It's perfect for helping us lead in freeing ourselves from having to burn stuff to generate sufficient electricity or to get anything moved anywhere.

Creating and widely using new approaches and technology to help make the world a better place is what we Americans traditionally, instinctively do, and Yorkers certainly have the technical know-how and down-to-earth, can-do spirit to help with that as we did so well in World War II. So let's get involved to make a healthier world.

Roger Twitchell

York City