Letters to the editor

Food prices

The recent piece by Seth Borenstein highlights a critical issue — the impact of climate change on food prices and inflation. This remarkable study underscores the pressing urgency to address climate change. Researchers calculate that “weather and climate shocks” will cause the cost of food to rise 1.5 to 1.8 percentage points annually within a decade or so, even higher in already hot places like the Middle East, according to a study in the journal Communications, Earth and the Environment. That translates to an increase in overall inflation of 0.8 to 0.9 percentage points by 2035, caused by climate-caused extreme weather, the study said. By 2060 the impact on inflation will be over 2%.

This development results in individuals who can least afford it grappling with skyrocketing food prices. And the worst of these impacts will be experienced by the Global South. Greater focus needs to be placed on the economic strain created by climate change that accompanies the catastrophic damage to the physical environment. Climate change is not just a weather problem. It’s an economic, social, and humanitarian crisis. We need to address it as such.

Marvin Berkowitz

Needham

“Climateflation”

“Higher temperatures mean higher food and other prices. A new study links climate shocks to inflation” — Boston Herald

This article introduces us to a new term: “climateflation.”  Our prices, especially in the supermarket, are going up slowly but surely every year along with rising temperatures. To stop rising temperatures and related price increases we need to drive our tailpipe and smokestack emissions down — way down. If you can’t afford an electric car, know that you can reduce your emissions and transportation costs by following President Nixon’s long ago mandate, issued as a gas saving measure during the OPEC oil crisis in 1973: Go 50 mph or no more than the speed limit and use cruise control. Keep your tires properly inflated and drive gently  —it’s a money and emissions saver.

Grassroots mechanics from all over the world have been working on converting gas cars to EVs and even plug-in EVs. The cost and time for installation is minimal. Keep looking for climate solutions — it’s the way to go.

Jan Kubiac

Hyannis

RJK Jr. candidacy

Nothing screams “No longer the party of Kennedy” quite like Democrats trying to prevent John F. Kennedy’s nephew from even being on the ballot this fall.

Nick McNulty

Windham, NH