Deep thanks to the Sun-Times for presenting the serious problems of a changing climate and our role in it (“Climate change means warm autumn days, but it’s also overheating the planet” — Nov. 13).
If you love the great outdoors and the many gifts of creation, you will be on the front lines of this battle with ourselves against this existential threat.
As a reminder of the impact, the number of billion-dollar climate disasters has increased dramatically since 1980 to more than $2 trillion. The price tag hides the massive human suffering that accompanies these disasters. Fossil fuels also lead to hundreds of billions in health care costs and swipe an average of two years of life expectancy from each of us.
Scientists worldwide urge us to eliminate the sources of carbon dioxide. The Inflation Reduction Act is a good start, yet we need to rapidly permit current projects on deck, or we will lose 80% of possible reductions.
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Another powerful mechanism, though, is to charge a pollution fee on fossil fuel corporations and return fees as cash-back to citizens. This will protect us from price spikes passed on by these companies. It will also motivate a shift to clean energy as we are “paid to go green.” A bill in Congress does just that.
A healthy economy requires a healthy climate. A national solution (one that might reach our Paris commitments) requires that voters replace foot-draggers financed by fossil fuel lobbyists and elect climate champions.
Jan Freed, Los Angeles
Enact ban on menthol cigarettes quickly
As a faith leader of three decades on the South Side, I’ve seen the damage that menthol cigarettes cause, and fortunately, we may have help soon.
The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) just sent a rule to the White House Office of Management and Budget on banning the sale of menthol cigarettes, which have plagued our people for far too long and caused devastating health disparities. Menthol cigarettes exacerbate the worst characteristics of tobacco: they are more addictive, easier for kids to start and harder for smokers to quit.
For me, the horrendous impact of menthol cigarettes is most acute when I’m called to the hospital with congregation members to pray for someone suffering from the consequences of smoking menthol cigarettes — which happens more than I’d like to remember.
Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable death for African Americans, and a major contributor to three of the leading causes of death among Black Americans: heart disease, cancer and stroke. Menthol cigarettes are a major reason why tobacco claims 45,000 Black lives annually and why 30% of cancer deaths are attributed to smoking.
In the 1950s, less than 10% of Black smokers smoked menthols. Now, 85% do, compared to 29% of white people. This increase results from decades of targeted marketing by tobacco companies, such as free samples in Black neighborhoods.
Big Tobacco also shamefully tries to take advantage of the problems that plague us, falsely claiming the FDA’s rule would result in the over-policing of Black bodies and using the issue of racial bias to continue selling a harmful product.
Studies show that once the rule is in effect, racial health disparities will quickly close. The FDA and White House must implement the rule without delay.
Rev. Dr. William E. Crowder, Jr., senior pastor, Park Manor Christian Church
