Everyone should get up to speed on what is happening to the environment. There is a lot to read that is political, emotional, wrong or scary, but some that is right and it’s difficult to know who to listen to.

Fundamentally, though, everyone needs to understand we face a pretty basic problem — that of needing to live on Earth sustainably. As elusive as attaining that is, a friend of mine sees something very basic —  “Although we are dealing with a whole environmental issue, much of it has to do with fossil fuels.”

So let’s focus on fossil fuels.

With an all-hands-on-deck urgency, let’s minimize our use of such fuels, on a personal and policy level.

I applaud the Sun Journal’s editorial (May 2) that responded to the Supreme Court ruling enforcing the Clean Air Act. That was a great victory toward respecting the environment.

However, we must push further and harder to reduce pollution — not just for its effect on personal health, but for its effect on the whole ecosystem as it warms our world.

The Citizens’ Climate Lobby, a national organization with a chapter in Brunswick, favors establishing a revenue-neutral carbon tax. That would effectively get people to pay for the environmental impact of their lifestyle in a way that, being revenue-neutral, ensures no growth in government.

If people do not take carbon-reducing measures maturely now, the consequential cost will increasingly be measured by more than money can quantify.

Laurie Sproul, Canton

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