Life or death decision

The U.S. Supreme Court’s rule that it is illegal for the federal government to regulate carbon emissions from power plants is a death sentence not only to the U.S. but our planet. Climate change is real and the biggest threat to the U.S. and the planet.

The U.S. accounts for 1/6 of the world’s population yet produces 1/4 of the carbon emissions from fossil fuels, which science shows are the main cause of climate change. We must greatly reduce our emissions and make a steady change to renewable energy, and ultimately phase out fossil fuel use.

The Supreme Court’s ruling also spells death to the coral reefs and all their life, already 90% degraded or dead; death to species already weakened by extreme heat and drought; death to polar bears; death to native communities who must hunt on the ice for seals, which will continue to disappear; death to the forests as fires and diseases continue in intensity; and death to humans from extreme heat, floods or storms. The ruling will result in increased violent storms in the plains, and epidemics and world hunger as we unravel nature’s web in which we are intertwined.

We must have Supreme Court justices, as well as politicians, who are educated on the issue of climate change and its effect on our entire planet. Protest this ruling of the Supreme Court to your senators, representatives and all elected officials. The life of the U.S. and the planet depends on it.

– Margaret Mayer, Durango