My Facebook memories from 2015 talk about the hottest summer on record. That was then. 2025 was hotter. Our summers are hot and humid. My friend Tom recalls warm weather this past Halloween. “Years ago, we had snow on Halloween. Not anymore.”

A recent article in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise mentions a heat dome and a “near historic” heat wave with triple-digit temperatures, according to private meteorologist Ryan Maue, a former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief scientist.

“The heat is part of Earth’s long-term warming. Summers in the United States are 2.4 degrees hotter than 50 years ago, according to NOAA data. Human-caused climate change has made this heat wave three times more likely than without the burning of coal, oil and gas, the climate science nonprofit Climate Central calculated, using computer simulations comparing the current weather to a fictional world without the industrial greenhouse gases.”

Our world is in crisis. The news brings only misery, tells of global calamity. Extreme weather is common. Glaciers melt, causing oceans to rise. Tuvalu, a Pacific island nation, plans relocation to Australia. In Alaska, villages are being relocated due to thawing permafrost. Penguins and polar bears are threatened. Rainforests are decimated. The Amazon is drying. Europeans experience record-breaking heat and extraordinary floods.

Extreme weather causes forest fires. The hills of Spain burn. Tourists flee fires on Greek islands. Turkey is choked with wildfire smoke. In Arizona, the Dragon Bravo Fire destroyed the north rim of the Grand Canyon and burned 145,504 acres. In California and Oregon, sweltering heat and smoke sent people to the hospital, while many others had to evacuate due to wildfires. 325,432 acres burned in California. In Manitoba, Canada, lightning started forest fires, driving 30 million Canadians from their homes, making our air thick with smoke, and adding more carbon to the atmosphere.

We have reached 425 parts per million of carbon in the atmosphere – way more than 350. Devastating climate consequences — sea level rise, flooding, fires — are happening all over our planet.

Man keeps polluting. Ecosystems and human societies are disrupted. Our future is at stake. We’re in the midst of a climate emergency.

Our government’s answer? On its first day in January, the Trump administration called the Paris Climate agreement a rip-off, saying it would sabotage American industries like coal, big oil and gas. With an executive order and without consulting Congress, our President withdrew from the Paris Climate agreement.

Other executive orders target tailpipe emission standards, renewable energy like wind and solar and environmental justice efforts.

Our President has renewed the call to “Drill, baby, drill,” slashed investments in clean energy, and rolled back US climate legislation.

In Washington, the current administration’s policies are disappointing and disturbing. Close the national parks. Disrupt the forest service. Withhold federal funds that protect our water, our air, our forests. Cut climate grants from the EPA. End efforts to cut greenhouse gases. Halt the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. End government funds that help average Americans reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save energy costs.

This administration has cut staff in all CDC, USDA and EPA agencies, including the Forest Service and our national parks. These layoffs threaten programs that protect forests, maintain trails, reduce wildfire risk, and manage the landscapes where millions of Americans hike, bike, climb, paddle, snowshoe and ski. This disruption to key programs has had a significant impact.

Our national parks are being dismantled. Crucial staff positions are being cut. The Forest Service is closing regional offices — cutting essential staff who understand the needs within their local regions. These dedicated employees are invaluable to the forests and the communities within them.

These cuts are the first steps in privatizing public lands across our nation. We need to stand up and say a loud NO to the money grabbers. These lands belong to all of us. They help ensure our health and well-being.

Delayed by denial. Fueled by greed.

Healthy forests, thriving recreation economies and resilient public lands are important resources. We need our forests. We need more wild lands, not less. More conservation of our natural resources and wildlife. We’re fortunate to be surrounded by these in the Adirondacks.

We need to understand the value of unspoiled beauty, wild forests, pristine lakes and waterways, wildlife, solitude and spiritual renewal. Our forests and parks are a vital natural resource, important not just for recreation but for conservation, not only for our citizens but for the life of our planet.

Write your Senators and Congressmen. Tell them: our planet is worth protecting. Ask them to protect our public lands, waters and air.

Stand up for clean energy. Stand against restructuring plans. Stand up for our National Parks and our Forest Service.

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Yvona Fast lives in Lake Clear.