We can contribute

“The Aral Sea: The endless ebb” (Comment & Features, August 13), which discusses the many environmental and other problems related to the sharp drop in the level of the Aral Sea, is among the latest of the many wake-up calls we have been receiving about the urgency of reducing climate change. As the article concludes: “Our planet today is experiencing a surge of water-related crises. The tragic destiny of the Aral Sea must prompt us to act to prevent similar man-made disasters and environmental threats elsewhere.”

We in Israel are sweltering under a heat wave. There have also been heat waves in Europe, parts of the United States and other places. This year will likely be one of the warmest since temperature records began being kept worldwide in 1880, and it might be the fourth-consecutive year of temperature records being broken. The increasing temperatures have caused ice packs and glaciers to melt, sea levels to rise, and storms, floods, wildfires and droughts to become more severe.

Given these realities and much more, it is time to make averting a climate catastrophe a major focus, with each one of us contributing to the effort by reducing the unnecessary consumption of goods, especially animal-based foods, an industry that produces high carbon dioxide emissions and thus exacerbates climate change even further. AVISHAI SHLOMI Afula