The biggest existential crisis of our time

Dear Editor: Every year, dictionary.com chooses a “word of the year.” I recently discovered that dictionary.com’s word of the year for 2019 is “existential.”

According to its website, “It captures a sense of grappling with the survival — literally and figuratively — of our planet, our loved ones, and our ways of life; it inspires us to ask big questions about who we are and what our purpose is in the face of our various challenges, reminding us that we can make choices about our lives in how we answer those questions.”

Climate change is, for me, and most of us, the biggest existential crisis of our time. It involves not only the survival of the human race, but also the survival of many species of flora and fauna. Undoubtedly the Earth itself will survive, but it will be a very different Earth from the one we are used to.

Who am I? I am a mother, a grandmother, and a climate warrior. What is my purpose? To do all that I can do to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. It is already too late to stop the effects that are happening right now, and, to a great extent, will continue to happen, but not too late to keep the disasters to a minimum.

I choose to participate in as many ways as possible, both locally and globally, with this end in mind. Demonstrations, rallies, civil disobedience, vigils, donations to environmental and climate organizations, and lobbying our lawmakers all go into the mix. In that regard, I would like to thank our congressman, Rep. Antonio Delgado, U.S. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer, and all our New York state representatives for their hard work on this issue.

I am also a volunteer for Citizens’ Climate Lobby (citizensclimatelobby.org). We have introduced a bill in Congress, H.R. 763, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, that, if passed, will go a long way toward addressing our climate emergency. The bill currently has 75 cosponsors in the House of Representatives.

We have existential choices; our members of Congress do, too. It is my hope that we will all make the right existential choice for all the inhabitants of the Earth, both present and future, and work to get this bill passed.

Jody Schoenfeld, Valatie, N.Y.