It’s time for Carbondale to act on climate change

“A voice from the wilderness” is a phrase that goes back to John the Baptist, who announced the coming of the Messiah. Well, my middle name is John. This phrase now describes something being said by very few, which could have very important consequences but that nobody pays attention to. Like a “Cassandra.” Like the Colorado scientist who tried to tell the pandemic community that the COVID-10 virus was spread through the air. The WHO, the CDC and the NIH told him to get lost. Only months later after many died did they start to come around with masks and separation.

The town of Carbondale has just embarked on an elaborate (and expensive) update of something called the Comprehensive Plan. It is 140 pages long and covers many topics. Let me know if you know anyone who has ever read it.

But what I and a few others keep saying lately is that Carbondale, with its “small-town character” (words repeated often in the “Comp Plan”), is not paying enough attention to the one main problem of the day: global warming. Instead, some people think our main problem is not having enough buildings. Apparently, we need more bank buildings, a lumberyard that we never needed before, more mini storage, more restaurants, hundreds more apartments and plenty of single-family houses. And a lot more traffic. All that makes our problem worse.

We actually have some real wilderness nearby, which is in grave danger of burning up because the temperature and the dryness keep increasing. We need a major focus on the climate change and protecting what we have. Don’t do that — and our Carbondale area will be another wilderness.

Patrick Hunter

Carbondale