Work together to slow climate change

To the Editor;
Letter-writer Alan Boone is correct that the climate has changed before. However, it’s the pace of the current change that is most troubling.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: “(T)he amount of rise in carbon dioxide levels since the late 1950s would naturally, in the context of past ice ages, have taken somewhere in the range of 5,000 to 20,000 years; we’ve managed to do it in about 60.”

In its report, “America’s Climate Choices,” the National Academy of Sciences states that climate change “is very likely caused primarily by the emission of greenhouse gases from human activities,” and it calls for strong national action and international cooperation to address it.

The NAS contends that this is wise risk management, because climate impacts will last for hundreds to thousands of years, but climate action can be scaled back if it is shown to be more stringent than what is needed.

Global warming should be a bridge, rather than a wedge issue. Let’s reach across divides and provide U.S. leadership in the fight to slow climate change.

Terry Hansen
Hales Corners, Wisconsin