“The NASA Cassini Mission has ended.” With these emphatic words, Herb Schribner announced the termination of the remarkable 20-year spacecraft mission ("The NASA Cassini mission has ended," Sep. 15). We marvel at the almost magical feat of sending a rocket to Saturn, orbiting the planet 293 times and sending back 400,000 photos. Yes, the accomplishments of NASA professionals are truly staggering.
So when NASA sends earth satellites to study the climate, it behooves us to reflect on its expertise. The NASA website states, “climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities.” Also, in light of the cataclysmic damage caused by Harvey and Irma, NASA’s observation on hurricanes should garner our full attention: “Hurricane-associated storm intensity and rainfall rates are projected to increase as the climate continues to warm.”
NASA makes it clear that the amount of future warming depends on our ability to dramatically reduce our greenhouse emissions.
The lessons from Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma are obvious. For a safer and less-costly future, we need to rapidly transition to clean energy. Check out online resources to learn how to make this a reality.
You can stay current on these issues with NASA’s informative website.
David Folland
Sandy