It's popular in some circles to link concerns about climate change with nefarious schemes to destroy capitalism and enslave free people in the cold and dark.
But even the most conspiratorial of skeptic has to respect a warning from Robert Fri.
Fri is a former director of the Electric Power Research Institute, the R&D arm of the electricity-generating industry, and American Electric Power Co., one of the nation's biggest consumers of coal and producers of carbon dioxide.
Fri was also one of the first leaders of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Richard Nixon and has been a director of the National Museum of Natural History.
He has no conceivable motive for undermining capitalism or hurting coal or any other fuel or industry.
What he said this week about taking action in response to climate change was this: "We really need to get started right away. It's not opinion; it's what the science tells us."
Fri, chairman of one of three National Academy of Sciences committees that studied climate change, also said: "The country needs both a prompt and a sustained commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions."
Made up of the nation's top scientists, the National Academy is charged with advising the government on scientific matters.
To read the complete editorial, visit www.kentucky.com.