4 Wednesday, September 30, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon We can do better. We must do better. We will do better. Good science will lead the way. Matt Wessel LETTERS Continued from page 2 because when you put your name out there with your opinion on it, well, careful what you wish for. But I do feel compelled to write about the current forest fire situation in Oregon. In my humble opinion, climate change is a signifi- cant driver of the increasing size, strength and intensity of the fires we9ve witnessed over the last several years, with this year9s events here in Oregon being amazingly horrific. I believe we must continue to enact energy policies worldwide (not just in the US) that will reduce CO2 and methane emissions. But this is what else I think we need to do. We must better manage our forests, improve our electrical infrastructure, and rethink our development policies (to list three areas of concern) as we continue to encroach on our forests. Think about it 4 if the entire human population stopped emitting greenhouse gases tomorrow (other than what we breathe out and flatulate in order to actually live), what impact would that have on next year9s fire season? It would likely have no measur- able impact for several years. And of course we aren9t going to magically cut our emis- sions to near zero tomorrow anyway, it will be a gradual reduction. It took humans 300+ years to change the climate in one direction, it will take many years to change it in another direction. Some scientists believe it9s already too late to do anything. I don9t subscribe to that viewpoint, but they could be right. So, how do we prevent a forest fire calamity next year? Unfortunately, it won9t be through address- ing climate change. Near-term prevention has to be achieved with actions that will have an immediate impact. Listening to our politicians debate over whether it9s climate change or forest manage- ment that is responsible for wildfires reminds me of the age old nature or nurture question. Well duhh, it9s both! I think they all know that (I hope?), what they say is just more rhetoric for their respective bases. Yes, climate change is having a negative impact, but we9re already here. We can9t make the climate go back to normal tomorrow. And if we somehow man- aged this (impossible) feat, does anyone really think it will also prevent forest fires next year? Addressing climate change, while the right thing to do, will take years to have an impact. It is my sincere belief that we must address climate change for the long-term health of our planet and we must address forest-manage- ment practices and policies for the near-term prevention of massive destruction of public and private lands and properties due to wild- fires. It9s not an either/or proposition. To see our politicians argue over it as such is, at best, disappointing. s s s To the Editor: I read the Letters to the Editor in The Nugget written by Marvin Inman and Gary Leiser regarding the development on the Forest Service property. There is an old adage,