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Letter to the Editor: Looking at Our Climate Future

If you’re a young person and have life-threatening concerns and no one seems to take you seriously, what do you do? At a time when I was young, the modus operandi was to keep it to oneself. These “duck and cover” drills were just a routine. No one actually talked about what they meant. No one bothered to point out that “duck and cover” did not work for the people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The ramifications were just too horrifying to think about. They still are.

Here we are in 2019, untouched by nuclear bombs – although we have come close – and we have just marked the unhappy anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. We have some existential problems here that need to be addressed, and although we adults are looking away to a large degree, the young people are not. They are looking The Future in the face and will need to deal with new and not-so-pleasant realities when we adults are gone. 

As I write this, many young people around the world are participating in a “climate strike,” walking out of school as a means of drawing our attention to an issue with great impact on their future and on our future as a species – not to mention other species. Some of us wanted to show our support locally, yet ironically, another problem – gun violence in schools – has made administrators understandably wary of anything out of the ordinary.

The Climate Change Coalition of Door County has been working tirelessly these past few years to inform the public about the problems and the possibilities surrounding the climate issue. On October 2 at 7 pm, the Climate Change Coalition, in cooperation with five county churches, will present the film Paris to Pittsburgh at Björklunden, 7590 Boynton Lane, Baileys Harbor. The screening is free and open to the public. Let’s get behind these well-minded people and take the family to view this film. Then we can talk.

Renny Lea

Fish Creek, Wisconsin