Haverford leading the way in battling climate change

To the Times:

A sobering U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report written by 91 scientists was released on Oct. 8 that urged drastic changes be made globally to limit catastrophic climate change. To date, the United States remains the only country that plans to leave the Paris agreement on climate change.

When I look at my children, I am afraid of what type of world they will grow up in as we seem to be unable to accept the responsibility to limit our manufacturing excesses. We have polluted and affected the ecosystem to the point that if we do not avert course drastically then some damage would be irreversible. Coral reefs will die, flooding will affect coastal cities and famine will force populations to migrate by the millions.

I used to think that I was powerless to help solve the problem.

But hope has come from a place I did not expect. On Tuesday, Oct. 9 the commissioners of Haverford Township voted unanimously to adopt two climate change resolutions (Resolution No. 2104-2018 and Resolution No. 21052018). I attended the commissioners’ meeting and watched Republicans and Democrats vote in favor of the resolutions in which the township will “join other leading towns and cities to transition to 100 percent clean and renewable energy community-wide, and set a goal to complete this transition to 100 percent clean renewable electricity by 2035 and

100 percent renewable energy for heat and transportation by 2050.”

Our president may not believe in the importance of addressing climate change, but that does not mean we are powerless. Commissioner James McGarrity joked that he might not be alive to see the effects of the resolutions, but he and the other Commissioners believed it important that Haverford Township lead the way to ensure that there would be a better world for our children.

I thank our commissioners for leading the way. Passing resolutions are important, but now we need to work as a community to follow through. The climate change news might have been stark from the UN report, but we still can act. Thankfully, we still have time.