Letters to the Editor: ‘Eyeball-stinging heat’ — fossil fuel companies are doing this to us

To the editor: This is what climate change feels like — “eyeball-stinging heat.” Our planet has not been this hot in 125,000 years. (“Southern California bakes under another day of scorching heat, fires and smog,” July 17)

So why are we not screaming “enough”? Why aren’t we identifying the culprits — coal, oil and gas companies — and demanding they stop producing fuels that are literally killing us?

The climate crisis is a fossil fuel crisis. Too many news articles like this one fail readers by not more prominently connecting the dots to the fossil fuel industry.

Eighty percent of all the energy used in the world today comes from fossil fuels, yet affordable clean energy like solar and wind is readily available to replace them. Through deceit, deception and delay, this industry and its political allies use their power to protect this pernicious business.

Governments must stop subsidizing these fuels, power the grid with clean energy, speed permitting for renewable energy, invest in healthier forests and tax fossil fuel companies on their carbon pollution.

Robert Taylor, Santa Barbara

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To the editor: Heat! It’s in the title of two lead stories in Tuesday’s print edition, and they are connected. Death and damage from excessive rain is in two other articles in the first two pages, and yes, they are also connected.

No one extreme weather event is solely due to climate change. However, the frequency and severity of heat, droughts, wildfires, excess rain and other damaging weather incidents are part of our new climate pattern, and it’s increasingly a threat to all of us.

To address this, we must take immediate action to drastically curb our greenhouse gas emissions.

The Inflation Reduction Act places a price on methane, and that’s great, but it’s not enough. We need a price on carbon. Start small and increase it over time, allowing businesses to adjust and start now.

We can also work on technologies like affordable electric vehicles and carbon capture. But first, let’s attack the root of the problem, which is our reliance on fossil fuels.

Melissa Waters, Laguna Niguel

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To the editor: My only question to those suffering from 125-degree heat is what part of “Death Valley” don’t you understand?

Jack Wolf, Westwood