No headline

The climate changes. It always has. Some say the winter of 2008-2009 was worse than 2016-2017, and that the winter of 1846-1847 was even worse. Remember the accounts of the Donner Pass party? Humans did not affect the weather then and the internal combustion engine was then barely known.

The current callous opportunism to state that the hurricanes that have hit Texas and Florida are the result of human activities ignores the history of Atlantic hurricanes, perhaps to stir up unrest for another purpose. Start by visiting weather.gov/media/lch/events.txhurricanehistory.pdf. You’ll discover that hurricanes have hit Texas since at least 1527 and that before there was a Houston, there was a Galveston, which in 1900 experienced the worst Texas hurricane recorded. (You may also learn that the historical yearly average occurrence is six.)

The current destruction and loss of life is terrible, but think of how much worse it would have been if not for the many internal combustion engine vehicles used by the hundreds of selfless volunteers who joined together to help the unfortunate citizens. Instead of tirelessly finding fault with so many inventions of the industrial revolution and the many comforts of modern life provided from it, more productive it would be to support those who try to deal with suffering in a positive way. The families of those who died in Texas and Florida deserve better from even us in Idaho. Seek God’s wisdom about how you can help.

JEREMY CONLIN

Cocolalla