Regarding “LNG project must stop” (Reporter, Aug. 30): I certainly agree, but I would like to point out the statement, “it will damage our environment for at least the next 40 years.” It would be more accurate to say, “starting in 40 years.”

Few people realize that the climate disasters we’re just beginning to experience are the result of greenhouse gas emissions we put into the atmosphere many decades ago. Our emissions from the last 40 years have yet to heat up and affect our climate. They are — by far — the largest ever, increasing with each decade. They won’t dissipate for centuries, adding on to what’s already up there (princeton.edu).

That’s why it’s so critical that we phase out fossil fuels by 2030. We are already well over the danger line of 400 parts per million measurement of CO2 in the atmosphere with 40 more years of enormous increases already locked in. When we finally get to 100 percent clean energy, it’s going to keep getting hotter for another four decades and then stay that way.

That’s why the National Academy of Sciences is warning that we are at risk of “catastrophic” climate change that will cause “global economic collapse,” followed by “societal collapse” if we don’t have massive emissions cuts starting now.

It’s always nice to see local efforts to fight climate change, but the international scientific community is unanimous in saying we must have rapid national transitions to clean energy to prevent runaway global warming.

Fortunately, that will be an economic plus since solar and wind, including storage costs, are already cheaper than any fossil fuel and their prices drop substantially every year (forbes.com). Scaled up, they’’ll be “essentially free” by 2030 (Financial Times, UBS, August 2018).

We just need to elect a different president and a different Congress in 2020.

Pete Kuntz

Northglenn, Colorado