One way to speak out is to publish Letters to the Editor.
On Sunday (3/7/21), the Dallas Morning News published a really terrible Op-Ed by Kenneth Hersch, Chief Executive of the George W Bush Presidential Center. His thesis was that investments in renewable energy had failed, so it's time to switch to funding "adaptation." (see original article here). I tried to be as blistering in my reply as possible in the limited number of words allowed.
Energy column doesn’t add up
Re: “Shift focus to adapting to climate change — Texas should build climate resilience into the power grid,” by Kenneth Hersh, Sunday Opinion.
Hersh’s column is an exceptional exercise in illogic. He uses the recent collapse of the Texas energy grid to argue that investments in green energy need to be ended in favor of greater investment in adaptation. No one in the climate movement disputes the fact that our current infrastructure is woefully inadequate in the face of the challenges that the growing climate crisis poses.
Yet nowhere in his column does Hersh mention the overwhelming scientific consensus that the primary cause of the crisis — and the ever increasing destruction that it brings — is pollution generated by the burning of fossil fuels. Hersh would have the reader believe that we can “adapt” without any significant effort to address the root causes of the crisis.
If we fail to reduce carbon pollution, however, the frequency and severity of the disasters caused by our overheated climate will only increase. Hersh’s argument is akin to telling someone addicted to a deadly drug that they need to adapt to the pain by taking another drug that will help with the pain, when the obvious solution is to stop taking the poison in the first place. The transition from dirty to clean energy must be accelerated!
Roger Knudson, Dallas
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