Voting for political leaders who are climate heros is the most powerful way we can protect children today.

The climate is a huge and complicated system that has a lot of momentum. It does not turn on a dime, so we cannot wait while many of our leaders ignore the danger signs. We have to vote out leaders who stand in the way of turning the rudder toward safer waters now, while there is still time to turn the ship we live on.

We have stark choices in candidates in Maine. Sen. Collins has sponsored important legislation to stop climate change, and she is helping to steer the Republican Party toward climate stabilizing policies. Collins is a climate hero who is looking out for our children.

Emily Cain supports the Clean Energy Plan that would force our coal/electricity plants to emit less greenhouse gas, while Rep. Bruce Poliquin has voted against the Clean Energy Plan. Cain supports a tax on carbon (fossil fuels), and would give that tax money to every American, which would greatly decrease greenhouse gas emissions. But Poliquin has attacked Cain for supporting this fossil fuel tax.

Locally, Henry Beck is a far stronger supporter of climate stabilization than Scott Cyrway. And in the presidential race, Trump calls climate change a hoax, threatens to rip up the Paris climate agreement, stifle the growth of clean energy, and lift restrictions on the types of energy that do the most to change our climate (coal and tar sands oil).

In contrast, Clinton has a strong voting record on climate stabilization, and she has vowed to stop our immense, federal tax giveaways to fossil fuel corporations.

Our changing climate threatens our children’s lives. As parents, or potential parents, it is time for us to protect them in the voting booth.

Richard Thomas

Waterville