Global warming unfolds before our very eyes
The Statue of Liberty seen from the Staten Island Ferry on June 7, when a thick haze from Canadian wildfires covered the region. Credit: AP/Yuki Iwamura
Global warming . . . before our very eyes
Smoke caused Long Island’s worst air quality in at least two decades [“Smoke’s effect on LI air,” News, June 18]. New Yorkers were impacted by the Canadian wildfires. New York City and surrounding areas’ air quality index were the worst in the world, a red flag about global warming.
What is scarier is the ongoing debate about the existence of global warming despite what we see unfolding around the world, which should be sufficient proof. I hope we don’t have to start wearing anti-pollution masks or worse on a regular basis.
Sadly, this is looming menacingly across the world and threatening the health of everyone, most notably children and the vulnerable, and exposing generations to come.
— Atul M. Karnik, Woodside
Forest thinning does not prevent wildfires under the severe human-caused climate conditions we face “How to keep bad air from coming back,” Letters, June 13]. The intensity of the recent fires burns both cleared and developed areas, not just trees.
Since 2000, average annual acreage consumed by fire in the western United States has increased dramatically.
Atmospheric warming has caused persistent large-scale drought, making organic matter into tinder and changing weather patterns that might moderate the huge fires.
Eastern Canada, a historically moist region, used to be relatively fire-safe.
The only solution to wildfires and other climate disasters is reducing greenhouse emissions and moving to clean energy like offshore wind.
— Alexa Marinos, North Babylon
Cartoon playing off Titan was offensive
Matt Davies’ political cartoon displaying Supreme Court justices underwater, with the caption “Descending into dangerous, murky depths with billionaires” was offensive, considering the search for the missing Titan submersible [Opinion, June 22].
— Frank E. Philpitt, Hicksville
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