Climate change destabilizing our economy

James Knobbs' letter (Daily Bee, May 28) on our climate crisis was spot on. Yet it’s not just coastal homeowners who can't afford insurance, it’s the people living in the tornado zones, and even in Bonner County's forests. Climate change is destabilizing our economy. Soon, we’ll see a flood of climate refugees fleeing worst-hit areas.

Last month was the hottest May on record. But those “Merchants of Doubt” — the public relations firms who convinced us that smoking doesn’t cause cancer — have done their job well for the oil industry in discrediting science and enabling business as usual to continue. Although big oil corporations now acknowledge that global warming is real and caused by the burning of fossil fuels, they have trained our consumer-oriented society so well that we are loath to give up on the myth they crafted for us.

As a kid, my family discussed over dinner the effects of greenhouse gases on the atmosphere. We embraced the 55-mph speed limit, and kept our thermostat low, not just because of the oil shortage, but because we knew it was our responsibility to help protect the planet — and all living things — until alternative energies could be developed. I had faith that science would drive policy — but greed intervened and politics followed. Back then we had the time to prevent global warming. Now, we are living with the impacts, and can only do our best to make the future less fraught for our children and grandchildren who must live with our folly.

SUSAN DRUMHELLER

Sagle