I am wondering about the opportunity cost of the Iran war. In choosing to start it, President Trump chose to spend our nation’s fortune on a threat that many intelligence experts agree was not imminent, instead of on a threat that most of us agree is already here: the threat of climate change.

The beautiful planet that the Artemis II astronauts photographed for us is becoming less hospitable. And instead of devoting our resources to preparing our states, our cities, our towns and our countryside for drought, fires and floods, our president is spending that money fighting a war that wasn’t necessary.

Sen. Susan Collins, as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, seems willing to let him continue to do so. The money being spent on bombs and ships is money we need now to reconfigure and strengthen our power grids, our roads, our drainage and road infrastructure, our first responder and hospital networks — money we should be spending now to prepare for the threats a warming planet will bring home to all of us. 

In my mind, Collins is overseeing the misappropriation of billions of our taxpayer dollars. If our nation’s fortune is to be spent on threats, it should be spent on those that are truly imminent. There are none so real, so here, as those posed by our warming climate. Collins’ failure to see that now is what I’ll be thinking about when I vote in November.

Tammy Mitman
Scarborough