TO THE EDITOR: We are all here and alive because generations before us cared enough about the future to shoulder major challenges so that our lives would be better.

My parents’ generation cared enough about the future to face the hardships of a world war. They set an example of courage.

How grateful I am, then, to Borough Council member Rachel Ehrlich for taking the lead on the borough’s response to climate change. And how proud and relieved I am that the council and mayor have enough faith in Madison’s future to plan for it. This is real leadership.

Right here at the local level, they are shouldering responsibility for the most difficult and critical challenge looming over us, and none too soon.

We just can’t afford to keep pretending that we don’t have to face it—not if we want to honor all that those before us sacrificed for our future; not if we care about our children, grandchildren, and their children, care what kind of world we are leaving them.

Now it’s our turn.

HELEN KAAR