Thank you, Salt Lake Tribune, for reminding us that we are in “A spell so dry it chases records (Tribune, March 13).” With 94 percent of the state in drought status, Tribune readers are likely to recall the prediction by Gov. Jon Huntsman’s blue ribbon panel of scientists 10 years ago, that continued warming “would yield a decline in natural snowfall and snowpack …, [and] and earlier and less intense average spring runoff” (“What science tells us after 10 more years of climate change,” Tribune, July 3, 2017).
What does the future hold for Utah? The current indications are not reassuring.
Katharine Hayhoe, a lead author of the Climate Assessment Special Report, which was released last November, concluded, “We have been smoking fossil fuels for hundreds of years. This report is an X-ray of our lungs. They are in a serious condition.”
The report projects continued warming unless we eliminate fossil fuels as an energy source and make other changes.
By acknowledging the scientific evidence on human-caused climate change, using market forces to speed the transition to clean energy, we can not only avoid worsening droughts and other serious impacts of warming temperatures, but build stronger, more resilient communities.
David S. Folland, M.D., Sandy