The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication just published an article entitled, What Prompts Interest in Climate Change: https://tinyurl.com/Yale-Climate.

“In recent weeks, a majority of Americans have experienced extreme heatwaves that have pushed summer temperatures to record-breaking highs in places like New York, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. As the effects of climate change continue to mount, extreme weather events have become more frequent, requiring more people to adapt. But does this rise in frequency cause people to connect the dots between climate change and extreme weather?

“Most Americans have taken notice. According to the latest figures from the Yale Climate Opinion Maps, 65% of adults in the United States somewhat or strongly agree that global warming is affecting the weather, while 72% of adults nationally think global warming is happening.”

The article contains a number of charts that detail, region-by-region how three events affect people’s attention, wildfire smoke, hurricanes and extreme heat events. In Vermont it’s wildfire smoke and extreme heat events.

The fact that Vermonters are paying attention to these events should cause our state legislators and governor to take notice. Vermonters are aware that climate change is affecting us — we’re breathing the wildfire smoke right now, and we’ve already experienced a higher number of days over 90 than average. And we are still reeling from higher-than-average extreme rain events three years in a row.

We’ve been told that adding a few cents to the cost of fossil fuels and electricity to lower our carbon footprint is too much to bear. But we are paying higher insurance rates to cover the costs of climate related events right now. The state and towns are trying to figure out how to pay for flood damage right now, and who knows how wildfire smoke is affecting public health and healthcare costs. And, yet there are those who want to roll back what’s already been done.

We need to tell our legislators and governor when the second half of the biennium begins in January, we expect them to work together to continue to build climate resilience and reduce fossil fuel use now, not to go backwards.

As Bill McKibben says “we need to stop burning stuff.” And I say, “Later is too late.”

Richard Butz

Bristol