The cartoon on the May 22 Redmond Reporter opinion page deserves a response. The cartoon illustrates a “kayaktivist” participating in the May 16 Shell NO! protest of the Polar Pioneer drilling rig in Elliott Bay. No doubt, cartoonist Frank Shiers the artist feels terribly clever for pointing out the many oil-based products of the kayaker’s gear. But instead of showing the supposed hypocrisy of those who advocate leaving Arctic oil in the ground, the cartoon reveals the shallowness of Shiers’ thinking.

Let’s go to the basics. First, climate change resulting from greenhouse gases is real and those who deny it are living in a fantasy world driven by conservative ideology. Second, the impacts of climate change are already occurring and will become much worse, if not catastrophic, by the end of the century. Third, if we don’t leave 35 percent of known oil reserves in the ground, we don’t have a chance of averting the worst of these impacts.  Fourth, drilling for Arctic oil endangers one of the most fragile ecosystems on Earth in a place where responding effectively to a large oil spill is near impossible.

So that brings us back to the cartoon. Yes, all of us are dependent on oil — that’s obvious, especially to the Shell NO! protestors. The point is we have to reduce that dependency, not explore for more oil, and move to a society largely running on renewable energy. That, Mr. Shiers, is what the protest was really about. The people who were out in the kayaks are also the ones riding their bikes to work, driving hybrid vehicles, and working to reduce carbon emissions via carbon pricing mechanisms like Inslee’s cap-and-trade proposal and CarbonWa’s revenue-neutral carbon tax.

Rather than sitting smugly at his drawing table making fun of people who are doing something to reduce global warming, Shiers should educate himself about the risks and implications of climate change.

David Chapin, Redmond