I read a few comics to lighten my mood after I read a lot of depressing news. On July 15, however, I found a recent “The Other Coast” comic in the Press Herald even more depressing than the rest of the paper. It showed penguins adapting to the melting ice in their homeland at the South Pole by selling sunglasses and sunblock, etc., to tourists. This made me so sad. Many species cannot adapt to what we are doing to our environment by burning fossil fuels. The Supreme Court has limited the power of the EPA, so America continues to damage the world. Although China emits more CO2 in total than any other country, we emit the most CO2 per person.
Extinction of species has always happened, but the rate it is happening now is not natural. “The post 1900 extinction rate is 100 to 1000 times higher than the natural background rate,” according to Our World in Data- extinction. It is time to take serious action about this situation, not laugh at it.
If this concerns you, the most effective thing you can do is call Sens. King and Collins and Reps. Pingree and Golden and tell them to deal with the climate crisis. Ask them to pass a price on carbon which will be returned to you in a monthly check so that you can afford the changes that will occur as we rapidly transition to renewable energy.
Nancy Hasenfus
Brunswick
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