The news about Hurricane Helene with its record rainfalls and winds underscores once again the increasing effects of warming oceans on storm strength and destructiveness. The oceans would not be warming were it not for human impacts on the atmosphere.

Yet, according to Project 2025, the conservative playbook for a next administration, our big problem is the “climate change alarm industry,” which conservatives vow to silence because it is “harmful to future U.S. prosperity.”

What’s harmful to future U.S. prosperity is the effect that increasing atmospheric warming will have. Alarm is appropriate! Only strong and effective federal policy has a chance of decreasing the accelerating destruction.

The city of Waterville in 2021 formally encouraged Congress and the president to enact a federal carbon pricing policy that will motivate a shift in the economy away from fossil fuels and their pollution, and send regular carbon dividend checks to households to help them with the energy transition. Reducing fossil fuel burning will reduce the rate of warming.

So far, 29 municipal governments have passed such endorsements. If enough towns do this, perhaps we can actually motivate Sens. King and Collins and Reps. Golden and Pingree to take action to save our future prosperity.

Cynthia Stancioff

Camden