Weather extremes come with massive costs

I appreciate The Gazette's important coverage of the recent climate disasters in Australia and Brazil. These events, along with the 2008 flooding in Cedar Rapids, foreshadow the weather patterns that will increasingly prevail in the years ahead.

The burning of fossil fuels has increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 40 percent since the 1800s, and is now the primary cause of climate change. The massive costs associated with the weather extremes in the decades ahead will be one of the consequences of our current business-as-usual approach to this threat.

It's time to ask our elected leaders to support greenhouse gas reductions, renewable electricity, green buildings and disaster mitigation.

Frank Olsen

Cedar Rapids