To the editor:

We write regarding the letter, posted December 31, 2020, claiming that “Government creates false market on alternative energy”.

The letter refers to EastBayRi’s editorial expressing concern about Trump’s making jokes and false claims about wind and solar power. Regrettably, the letter writer does not mention the huge subsidies our government gives to the fossil fuel industries.

Much more importantly, this letter diverts us from the real issue: greenhouse gases result from using petroleum – oil, gasoline, and “natural” gas to generate electricity, warm and cool our buildings, and fuel our vehicles. 

These greenhouse gas emissions are the cause of our climate crisis. The warming earth will become uninhabitable during the lives of our grandchildren and their kids. The oceans will rise, lose their fish, and flood our coastal cities. Our crops will fail. Storms will rage. Plants and animals will die. Wildfires and tropical diseases will spread. Humans will find it impossible to live and work, initially in the south, and increasingly northward. Refugees will try to move north, into shrinking temperate regions. Disadvantaged communities and individuals will suffer first and worst.

To stop the climate crisis, we simply must stop producing greenhouse gases. The costs of failure immeasurably exceed the costs of switching to alternative energy sources. We need energy to run our economy and live our lives. We need electricity, HVAC for our buildings, and the ability to transport people and goods – but we must, urgently and completely, stop producing greenhouse gases.  Please ACT ON CLIMATE. Support the 2021 Rhode Island Climate Crisis Campaign.

Frances and Peter Trafton

Little Compton