From Nathan Dombeck

Janesville

To the Editor:

Wisconsin, and the upper Midwest US in general, is thought to be something of a climate safe space. We think that being in the northerly reaches of the country will protect us from accelerating heat risks, from increasingly frequent and damaging hurricanes, from blazing wildfires.

The last few years have proven that our faith in a safe climate haven is misplaced. Wildfire smoke pouring in from Canada has clogged our lungs for multiple years running. Record-setting April rains caused widespread flooding and infrastructure damage. Similarly, Wisconsin has had a record-setting year to date for tornadoes, with the most confirmed touchdowns through April in our history at 26 (including a shocking 16 in a single day on April 17).

Wisconsinites need to sit up and pay attention — our environment is changing around us in new and dangerous ways that we aren’t prepared for. We need to advocate for systemic changes to the way we generate power, transport ourselves and goods, and grow our food. As the cliché goes, ‘the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago; the second-best time is now’.