To the Editor:
An election will be held in Bayonne with one of the most important issues not being mentioned: climate change. Some have bristled reading that I am sure, asking how climate change is important in relation to jobs, economy, etc. Well, because without a planet to provide you with what you need to live you do not have an economy. I am disappointed to see it totally ignored by the candidates. Do you not remember what happened here not even two years ago? Hurricane Sandy’s storm surge has been attributed by scientists to anthropogenic (human induced) climate change. Do you not recall the economic damage and loss of jobs with Sandy? A record sea-surface temperature that caused thermal expansion of the ocean, record Arctic sea ice loss, pushing the effects of Arctic amplification, influencing the jet stream, combined with record melting in Greenland, releasing huge amounts of energy into the atmosphere came down like a bomb. Sixty-five billion dollars in loss with families still homeless and many hurting. The pace of climate change globally is now making it imperative we pay attention and act now.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change just issued its seventh report calling our future dire unless we adapt now in line with an end to excavating fossil fuels. Extreme events tied to the burning of dirty energy sources now cover 10 percent of our planet up from 0.001 percent. Climate change is already affecting water access, rain patterns, our ability to grow food, our economy, our security, our society, and our lives. Unless Bayonne becomes resolved to working to shore up infrastructure to prepare for the next storm (Hoboken and Secaucus are doing so) and move to solar, wind, and sustainable agriculture initiatives (many empty lots here could be used for urban agriculture/CSA) to make this city more sustainable, it won’t matter what “redevelopment” projects politicians bring here to fill their pockets and those of the developers who pollute our city. We have entered a period of consequences for humanity we are not even close to prepared for. We need leaders who understand that and are prepared to truly lead.
JAN MOORE
The Climate Reality Project