To the editor:

As the disasters caused by climate change compound, the costs do too. Either way we will pay for Climate Change, but what do we pay for? Do we pay like the Bahamas have paid for Dorian– relocating thousands of people without homes to go back to, businesses to work at, or schools to attend? Or do we pay to prevent worse Dorians, by speaking up, divesting from fossil fuels, and demanding cleaner energy that won’t drown our plains and burn our forests.

These recurring disasters are the climate exhibiting symptoms of a greater illness that threatens to consume our world. Like any disease, if you see the signs early enough, read the symptoms, and act to stop its progression, the system can be saved.

We can still save ourselves. We can see the signs and they are becoming harder and harder to ignore. We can see the Earth reacting to the emissions that are poisoning the air, that are growing like a cancer on our world. She is fighting it off, but the symptoms are getting worse.

If we act now, if we vote for politicians who will seek out better emission standards, if we invest in alternate forms of energy, and we demand that our city, our state, and our country do the same: we can prevent worse catastrophes.

These are historic times we find ourselves in, but what we do during these times will determine if the disasters are historic because they are the worst they will ever be, or if they are historic for being the start of something worse to come.