Letter to the editors
The science is clear that we have very little time left to make the drastic changes needed to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis. The time is now for President Biden to declare a national climate emergency and mobilize our nation’s resources on a massive scale to transition to clean renewable energy and create millions of good-paying green jobs.
We need President Biden to declare a climate emergency because:
It will help us transition to clean renewable energy faster. Mobilizing our domestic industry to manufacture clean energy technologies and build out our renewable energy infrastructure will allow the
U.S. to quickly reduce our dependence on dirty fossil fuels and transition to a clean energy future. It will create a lot of good jobs. In order to build out the infrastructure needed to accomplish our clean energy goals, we will create a lot of new jobs. It is critical that we demand these jobs including high road labor standards, good wages, and strong benefits.
President Biden has the authority to declare a climate emergency with the power of his signature. It’s time for him to get it done. Let’s go, Joe.
When I saw that Tue, 22nd, is World Water Day, it reminded me of something many years ago: I was at a local cafe and overheard a couple complaining about the plastic utensils and paper plates. Their accent told me they were likely from “down under”. I explained to them that our City was making sure water wasn’t being wasted on washing dishes. The woman glared at me and almost shrieked: “Yet you still flush your toilets with drinking water!!”
What could I say? She was right. I asked how they were dealing with the drought at home. They said that, over 10 years earlier, their community worked together to ensure everyone had rainwater catchment systems. Then they started a program to install as many greywater systems as possible. (I immediately thought of how great it would be to have that gray water to rinse my recycling & water my garden).
They said that many people chose to install one or more composting toilets. All of the actions they took, from rainwater catchment to greywater systems to composting toilets, created a surprising amount of increased local business, more employees, more income.
They said that they still must be careful when using water but feel confident they can survive any future droughts.
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