Letter to the editor: Views on climate change should determine vote | Centre Daily Times

The Sierra Club has endorsed Kerith Strano Taylor for the 5th Congressional District.

Strano Taylor understands that human activities are contributing to global warming, which looms as the worst catastrophe human civilization will face. We see signs of climate change constantly.

Our media sources and political leaders move on to the pressing matters of the Islamic State and the Ebola crisis. Yet we are learning that these crises and global climate disruption are not separate.

The civil disruption that has devastated Syria was initiated in part from a protracted drought that displaced 800,000 desperate people from the countryside to overcrowded cities. Climate change unchecked will trigger more social disruption.

We need action on climate change. That is one reason I will vote for Strano Taylor.

Her stance on raising the minimum wage is also important.

Workers deserve a living wage, and money in consumers’ hands stimulates a consumer economy. Her commitment to equal pay for equal work is more important than ever because women are the main or only financial support for many households.

Our world is changing and we need a representative who understands rather than denies the changing realities of our times.

Our current 5th District representative votes against the environment 95 percent of the time. I urge everyone concerned about our environment’s impact on our health, economic growth and the quality of our air and water to vote for Strano Taylor on Tuesday.

Ernest Boyd

State College

The writer is chairman of the Sierra Club Moshannon Group.