For those Kentuckians who have not yet voted, I am pleading with you to consider planet Earth in deciding your vote.
Recent events have driven home the point that climate change is both real and devastating (think floods in Kentucky, Hurricanes Helene and Milton). New peer-reviewed studies have shown that extreme weather events have cost the lives of more than 500,000 people in the last 20 years. Moreover, climate change is affecting our health in that certain diseases are becoming more common and more deadly.
Climate change affects our food supply, the supply chain, insurance costs and whether or not insurance is even available. Disaster relief costs and health care costs, as a result of new and more serious illnesses, are skyrocketing. Thus, the consequences of continuing to ignore reality are dire.
In Kentucky, it is often popular to promote coal as a fuel, but that just continues the downward spiral of climate change. Donald Trump has pledged to increase the use of fossil fuels — that is unsustainable.