To the Editor, Atlanta Journal and Constitution 6/13/2017
Leaving Paris Accord a major error
As Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson said, science tells us that climate change is happening. Politics is about how we decide to address the problem. Denying that climate change is happening is not politics and not science, it is meaningless. Climate change will happen no matter what we say about it.
Addressing climate change will be good for our health now, and in the future. It will reduce air pollution now, and in the future. Less air pollution means fewer asthma attacks, fewer heart attacks, fewer heart arrhythmias and fewer people with respiratory difficulties. Less air pollution means less school absenteeism, less work absenteeism and more productivity.
Withdrawing from the Paris Accord guarantees more ill health for all of us. It means more air pollution, more extreme weather events, more infectious diseases, more heat illnesses, and less stable food sources. It is a major error that will harm all of us.
ANNE MELLINGER-BIRDSONG, OF MOTHERS AND OTHERS FOR CLEAN AIR
