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To the editor — Weeks late the snow has started to fall. In our 21 years in Yakima, the climate has dramatically changed, as recently illustrated.
Political policies have no impact on physical laws. The argument that human activities can’t cause climate change is foolish. If a fire starts in a forest, we don’t assess whether it was caused by lightning or human activities, we assess the potential risk and proceed accordingly. The worldwide actions to mitigate climate change (except by the U.S.) are an example.
The Republican Party has disparaged and ignored science for years. The current budget makes drastic cuts to many science programs and imposes intellectual restrictions on supported research. This reverses policies that have made our country a leader in science as demonstrated by a stream of Nobel prizes.
These changes will forfeit our scientific leadership. Canada and the EU have already established well-funded programs to lure top scientists to transfer their labs. China has an enormous scientific enterprise that is more ambitious than ours was. For example, U.S. policy wants a car battery that can be charged in 15 minutes. The Chinese policy is a battery should be charged in 5 minutes.
Are untaxed billionaires worth it?
EDWARD BIRGE
Yakima
