Gloomy weather may be the least of our worries

I’m of two minds about Chris Churchill’s commentary “The gray, muddy winters of my discontent,” Jan. 8.

Part of me wants to be reassuring. It’s true that our grandchildren may see less snow, but nature still has much to offer, and its resiliency can be astounding. Consider the bald eagle’s bounce back from near-extinction, made possible through a ban on DDT, reintroduction efforts and vigorous law enforcement.

But another part of me wants to remind Churchill that gray, muddy winters may soon be the least of our problems. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports that global warming presents an “urgent and potentially irreversible threat” to humans and the planet.

Governments are hurtling way past the limit of a 2-degree Celsius increase in global warming, which they had agreed to in the 2015 legally binding international treaty in Paris. Such increased heat will deplete biodiversity, threaten food security, and impose severe stress on the infrastructure of most countries.

Yet scientists agree it is still possible to keep warming at 2 degrees Celsius if governments follow through on climate pledges. New York took the lead in this regard when it enacted the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act in 2015. This law commits New York to a net-zero carbon economy by 2050.

Now it is up to our legislators to enact laws to enforce the act’s mandates. In the process, they will create a green-energy infrastructure that will benefit the economy and improve the health of citizens and the planet.

Hilary Clauss Old Chatham