Letters: Climate change is news we can use

Re “Atmospheric CO2 approaches a dire milestone,” May 2

If astronomers had just discovered that a meteor would strike Earth in a few years and that its impact would make our world a radically different place than the one we have known, the article about it would be above the fold on the front page.

But when scientists at UC San Diego tell us we are pumping carbon dioxide into our atmosphere at a rate that can, in a few decades, raise the Earth’s average temperature and ocean levels to heights not seen in millions of years, this article only makes it to two brief columns on Page A-10 of The Times.

I’m nearly 80. Maybe this isn’t front-page news for me. But I’m visiting my children and my grandchildren. For their sake, this news should have been at least a banner headline.

Don Chatfield

Claremont

Whether you believe climate scientists or not, it just doesn’t make sense for us to keep polluting our environment with fossil-fuel use when we have clean-energy technology that works, that does not emit greenhouse gasses and that would be cheaper for all of us in the long run — besides keeping us healthier.

Helen N. Hanna

Sacramento

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