What readers say needs to be done to combat climate change

To the editors: I thank the LA Times for publishing the special issue “Our Climate Change Challenge” on September 15th. Stories like this should be on the front page every day. The best line was this quote in the article about fast fashion: “The most sustainable thing you can do is not buy things.”

Unfortunately, that would ruin our economy.

But for far too long, the prices we pay for products have not reflected their true costs. They take into account materials, labor, transportation and marketing – but should also include dismantling, repair, destruction, recycling and final disposal.

Plastics seem cheap, but are they really? What are the health costs of microplastics and phthalates? And what is the cost of cleaning up our beaches and oceans?

Products of all kinds are too cheap and easy to replace. Consumers simply throw them away and buy new ones. If prices included the true cost to the planet, perhaps people would be motivated to repair more products. Manufacturers should be required to provide spare parts and make their products easier to repair.

Yes, a vacuum cleaner would be more expensive, but it would be easier to repair and would not so quickly litter the streets and alleys along with refrigerators, microwaves, washing machines and dryers.

Andrew Tilles, Studio City

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To the editors: The sun provides the earth's energy needs. All life competes for this energy and must follow two strict rules of nature.

Rule 1 is that energy can neither be created nor destroyed (conservation of energy). Rule 2 is that every energy process makes things more chaotic (entropy).

Before humans appeared, nature stored incredible amounts of its creations (plankton and plants) in the earth. Over time, pressure and heat transformed what was created with weak solar energy into high-density fossil fuels.

Humans have learned to use this energy as they please and have invented capitalism, claiming that the earth's resources are infinite, thus violating the laws of nature.

We cannot produce more energy than nature provides, and it is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to find (Rule 1). The toxic chaos we have created threatens life everywhere (Rule 2).

Our dilemma is that in order to survive, we humans must obey the rules of nature and share with the rest of life on Earth.

Phil Beauchamp, Chino Hills

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To the editors: Kudos to the Times for its special section on climate change. As an environmental historian and climate activist for nearly 20 years, I have never seen comparable newspaper coverage.

I liked the reference to the excellent book The Dreamt Land by former Times reporter Mark Arax. You quote Arax as saying, “We're talking about a fundamental shift in the 'California Dream' to respond to something we should have responded to decades ago. Climate change now leaves us no choice.”

That's not entirely true.

Based on my research for a book I am currently writing, I am convinced that the California Dream has evolved to the point where our state is a national and global leader in climate action. This has been the case at least since the passage of the Global Warming Solutions Act in Sacramento in 2006.

Fortunately, the Californian dream of a livable climate seems to be embedded in the Times’ DNA.

Tom Osborne, Laguna Beach

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To the editors: At the university where I teach, I have decided to include climate change in all my courses.

I don't have a degree in sustainability. I don't understand climate science. I don't even know how to plant a garden. I teach writing and theater. So I taught cli-fi (climate fiction), romance, improvised greenwashing, and leading nature walks.

Teaching without considering climate change used to feel like ignoring reality. Now it feels like betrayal. Ignoring the extreme weather, the decades of collective manipulation by fossil fuel companies, the fear and hopelessness of my students is like not shouting “fire” when I see the flames.

So I understand why some teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District are taking curriculum into their own hands. But they can't do it alone.

What needs to happen for school systems and those in power to fund climate education? How long are we going to keep pretending?

Maggie Light, Van Nuys