Climate change is real and has been a topic of discourse for centuries. Don’t believe it? Consider the dilemma faced by Egyptians or Mayans suddenly forced to relocate when the weather patterns they long relied upon changed. Better yet, consider the challenges faced by those who migrated to this continent when a land bridge connected it to Siberia. As the glacier receded those people would have wondered why their environment changed.

The question then is not “do climates change?” but “how fast is our climate changing?” because we can adapt, as long as change is slow.

Those who study past and present climate changes have observed a rapid and sustained change in climates around the world. When they looked for a potential cause, they found that global climate changes coincided with a significant change in the concentration of greenhouse gasses in Earth’s atmosphere. That was not controversial until further observation revealed that the last century’s rapid increase coincided with a rapid increase in human-generated greenhouse gas emissions.

Further observation of those changes revealed that the concentration of greenhouse gasses in Earth’s atmosphere was increasing more rapidly than the fossil record suggests they have in the past. After measuring greenhouse gas emissions from a variety of sources it was concluded that fossil fuels were the primary culprit and an effort to curb their use began.

CMP and HydroQuebec were asked to help New England do that by bringing hydroelectric power to Maine’s grid, which is unquestionably cleaner in that regard.

Jamie Beaulieu, Farmington