Health-care reform, important as it is, only affects American human beings. Climate change affects every single living being on planet Earth.

Our energy policies affect climate change. Therefore, the reform of our energy policies is the most important issue to face Congress now or possibly ever.

Greening our energy sources requires that we stop burning things to make power. Burning anything creates air pollution, which then warms the globe. Solar and wind power do not create any pollution, nor do they create soot to be scrubbed or nuclear waste to be disposed of.

Can we Americans slow global warming single-handedly? No. But our leadership is needed and our American ingenuity can flourish again. We are can-do people, and we can do it.

Congress, please lead the nation and the world in the right direction - toward clean, green energy. Now is the time to reverse our carbon footprint - species are dying out and nations such as the Maldives and Bangladesh are being flooded. Time is running out.

Anne and James McGowan, Normal