LETTER: Giving in to global warming?

Victor Joecks may be a talented columnist and perhaps feels obligated to side with climate change deniers and those who think the extreme weather events are simply inevitable. In his Wednesday column, he has moved from Big Energy’s denials that “it’s not real” and “it’s not us” to “it’s too late so might as well accept it.” This doesn’t consider that if we continue to do nothing and extreme weather events worsen, the effects may be so devastating to life as we know it that there would then truly be no remedies left for us.

Perhaps the loss of human, plant and animal life means nothing to Mr. Joecks, nor does the complex web that supports life as we know it. His joke about global warming’s “alter ego,” climate change, and calling our concerns “Chicken Little,” are joke-worthy, but giving in is not what we humans are known to do. We fight with every tool in our arsenal. That’s what we must do.

We must stop our dependence and slavish devotion to fossil fuels, which are the chief drivers of climate change. We must reduce emissions now and enhance the turn to renewable energy — wind, solar and geothermal — which has long since proven its economic worth, cost effectiveness and efficacy. We now need congressional action to further encourage this approach.

No, the transition will not be easy or quick, and detractors such as Mr. Joecks will continue their denial, thus continuing their pandering to Big Energy and irreparable damage to the ecosystems our lives and planet depend upon.