Letter: Climate change cannot be ignored

I am a fan of Orlan Love. I have read his columns for years, even though I neither hunt nor fish. I guess I'm just a sucker for good writing. But his Dec. 30 column, 'Rain totals worry this avid fisherman” was a bit disappointing.

I was disappointed because while he talks about 'rain - too much, too often,” he fails to call it what it is: climate change. Perhaps he didn't have to. He recognizes, as an experienced outdoorsman, that things are not normal, and he even quotes Iowa State University climatologist Gene Takle to that effect. But if Love really cared about the loss of the stable environment the earth has enjoyed for thousands of years, he would name it.

It's way past time to stop arguing about climate change and to start doing something about it. The steps we are taking as a state to move to alternative forms of energy, like wind and solar, are a good beginning. And to do everything in our personal lives to cut out energy-wasting ways is another. But the final and hardest way - in addition to changing our personal habits - is to call on our politicians to stop acting in one of two ways: as if there is no problem or that it will go away if we ignore it.

Let 2017 be the year of the Earth!

Charles R. Crawley

Cedar Rapids