To the editor:

Lawrence has not fared so badly, but a study in the journal Health Affairs looked at the cost of human suffering and loss of life due to six weather-related disasters in the U.S. from 2000 to 2009 and placed those losses at $14 billion.

Plus, with over a month of the year remaining, the U.S. has tied its yearly record for billion-dollar weather disasters, and the cumulative tab from those floods, tornadoes and heat waves has hit $35 billion. This is according to the National Weather Service.

Thus I think it’s costing the U.S. dearly to avoid creating several hundreds of thousands, or perhaps even millions, of new jobs in the clean-energy industry. These jobs would be jobs that I believe could be created if the U.S. declared war on climate change that weather scientists say tends to either produce or make stronger many of the extreme weather disasters.

Why do we do this? Answer: Because the fossil fuel and power generation industry holds our elected representatives in Washington (and here in Kansas) in the palm of its hand with the power of the money it extracts from we, the American people.