No convincing Trump

In the 17th century, Galileo was imprisoned for life. What was his crime? He agreed with Copernicus that the earth revolves around the sun. Copernicus arrived at this conclusion through astronomical observation and mathematical calculations. Religious leaders of the day believed that the earth was the center of the universe and to suggest otherwise was blasphemy. Today we smugly wonder how people of that time could have been so ignorant as to cling to a belief with no basis in fact and fail to consider evidence to the contrary.

Four hundred years from now, if civilization survives, school children will wonder how leaders of our time could ignore the scientific evidence that the earth’s climate is growing warmer. Every reputable climate scientist who is not working for the fossil fuel industry agrees that the statistics are convincing and we are seeing the results. Weather is becoming more extreme—summers are hotter and winters are colder. Weather patterns are changing. Hurricane season is longer and storms are more violent. The fire season is now more than a month longer than it was a few years ago.

The president of the United States is not convinced, though. He made it clear again in his recent visit to Sacramento that he does not believe in climate change. He is still blaming wildfires in California on lack of forest management, ignoring the fact that more than half of the forests in California are federal lands.

We need a president who takes science seriously and works to solve problems based upon the best available information rather than looking for someone to blame. Donald Trump has shown that he is not the right person for the job.

— Randy Lent, Soledad