Your Opinions

Climate change cannot be ignored

As the nation celebrated Earth Day, I wondered about the fact that our current President’s director of the EPA, Scott Pruitt, issued a memo to all the staff in that agency forbidding them to say/write the words “climate change.” I also wondered if people in our communities still welcome the spring rains, or might have to begin fearing them a direct result of increased human contributions to rising levels of carbon emissions, as confirmed by scientific research. I also wondered how many people have recently purchased a new home air conditioning unit or window unit or installed more ceiling fans in their homes due to the extended periods of 90+ temps we now experience during the summer months.

No matter how much our current President and Mr. Pruitt want to deny it, climate change is hitting our wallets and there are many things that this administration and Congress can do to save money and the planet at the same time. Continuing to fund research into the causes of climate change and investing in tax incentives to help people purchase more efficient home heating and cooling units will help to slow down the rise of global temperatures. Another helpful action would be to maintain policies that are currently in place requiring higher fuel economy standards in the production of cars; something this current administration wants to roll back. And, finally, a very impactful decision the current administration could make, would be to invest in the alternative energy industries. These industries produce, not just the innovative energy technologies we need now and in the future, but they also produce jobs in the marketing, production and engineering of these technologies. The Trump is creating policies that cut these government investments, giving China, Germany, Mexico, and Canada a clear path to developing their economies around what every developed nation in the world, including the U.S., requires now.

We cannot deny the science that has conclusively determined that we can slow the temperature changes that cause so much of our discomfort and fear. We need to respect and admire those who are doing the hard work of forcing deniers, like our current president, to face facts. Creating public policy that doesn’t allow one to say the phrase “climate change” is a policy that our nation cannot afford now or ever. We can all be a part of the solution, and many of us are doing what we can. But these efforts have to also be encouraged and the science respected by our president and his appointees. Call your Congressional representatives, in both House and Senate. Tell them that we will be a safer more productive nation if we invest in alternative energy technologies. “Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children.” Tell them there is no “Planet B”.

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