Letters to the Editor: Why extreme heat should influence your voting in November

To the editor: You recently published two related stories on climate change.

The first was about how bad global warming is and its future threats to our planet’s habitability. The second was about how the oil companies are trying to make it difficult to hold them liable for the damages they have caused, and for their decades of lying and misleading the public about the problem.

Both articles should be read with the November election in mind. Do we want to elect someone who is hostile to actions to mitigate climate change damages, forcing our children and grandchildren to suffer the dire consequences?

Jack Holtzman and Irwin Rubenstein, San Diego

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To the editor: Yes, the state of California has made significant commitments to protecting Californians from extreme heat. However, the current budget puts these very programs in jeopardy.

The program to track heat mortality? Its budget is being slashed by half.

The Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Program? It’s being similarly threatened — and at a time when community requests for cooling projects exceed the program’s capacity by 1,500%.

Extreme heat is here, and California’s cooling programs are poised to save lives. We should let them do their jobs.

Enrique Huerta, Los Angeles

The writer is legislative director of Climate Resolve.

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To the editor: The evacuation of a low-lying island off Panama’s Caribbean coast is just the beginning of the cost of inaction in the face of climate change. Whatever the cost of eliminating our carbon emissions, it will pale in comparison to the fiscal and emotional cost of business as usual.

It is time for people in the U.S. and around the world to unite before it is too late. There is a small window of opportunity, but it is closing rapidly.

Larry Kramer, San Juan Capistrano