To the editor:

The extreme weather events discussed in Mining Journal’s editorial printed in the Daily Mining Gazette on April 12 are a wakeup call. Nature is rattling our cage so that we notice what is happening to our beautiful planet. Once awake, we have a choice to make.

Despair is always an option, but believing we can’t do anything is a really bad feeling. It is also a lazy response to a challenge. Some would even argue that God wants to see us fail, but this response involves a total lack of gratitude for the incredibly beautiful planet we’ve been given. When we choose to see what’s wrong with everything, we are not much good to anyone, particularly our selves.

Hope is a better option, one that has always served humanity in the past. When human beings put their heads together to seek creative solutions to problems, we have accomplished amazing things. The move away from fossil fuels is happening remarkably fast, mostly in other countries, so far. Australia has a solar train. American students are “thinking outside the box.” Trend-setting people everywhere are choosing to live closer together, in diverse communities.

I believe that every thought and every action matters. There is a huge amount of potential energy in our country right now, but it can only be released when we bridge the seeming chasm that divides us and seek solutions together.

I am grateful to Rep. Jack Bergman for joining the bipartisan Climate Change Caucus and also for signing the Commitment to Civility. We can follow his lead. Everything we do makes a difference.