I hope you heard this interview yesterday afternoon with Svitlana Krakovska, whom Randi referred to in her article on the ‘war we can’t afford to lose’.

https://www.npr.org/2022/04/15/1093121720/ukrainian-climate-scientist-says-russias-invasion-is-a-fossil-fuel-war

Betsy Lawson, Morgantown

Oil Change International, April 5, 2022

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, Steubenville Star Herald
DATE: AUGUST 1, 2020

Randi Pokladnik points out how short-sighted thinking has positioned our region and the planet for environmental catastrophe (“We need a clean, green vision for the region,” July 19.) The world is awash in plastic, the viability of fracking is in serious doubt and the job growth promised for the Ohio Valley is likely to be disappointing. She lays this out and backs it up with considerable research.

So, what’s to be done? In a word, innovation. Companies that want higher sales and profits are constantly asking themselves how they might adapt and thrive. But we have a different set of challenges before us.

Collectively, we face a threat to our survival if we don’t act now. Chasing profits won’t get us anywhere. We must have research, and it will have to be publicly funded. Much of the research done in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, aerospace and high technology has and is being done at public expense.

But Congress is in the hands of lobbyists for the fossil fuel industry. Please write to your elected representatives, run for office, get involved in some positive way so that future generations will have a real future.

John Rucki