Letters to the Editor: Another heat record? Nature is telling humanity that time's up

To the editor: Earth's increasing temperature is relentless, going ever higher, year after year, bringing us problems so large they require us to change the way we live. ("And the heat keeps coming: Global temperature record broken for 10th month in a row in March," April 10)

Melting ice, rising sea levels, unstable jet streams, extreme weather, record fires, record floods, acid oceans and desperate migrants. It means we have to give up our beloved fossil fuels, our air travel to Hawaii and our big, juicy steaks.

Scientists who studied Earth’s history warned us of all the coming attractions, and now they are coming true, only much faster than predicted.

Fossil fuels allowed us to plunder Earth’s resources and abuse the rest of life on Earth. They allowed us to pretend, for a moment, that we make the rules.

But nature makes the rules. Even as we dither, nature is laying the foundations for a brand new future. If we listen very carefully, maybe we can learn those rules and save ourselves.

Phil Beauchamp, Chino Hills

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.