Calls for action on climate change

Is it time yet to confront climate change? The weather we’ve experienced this summer foreshadows what we will experience more and more frequently in coming years.

The situation isn’t hopeless: there’s still time to avert the most damaging effects of climate change, but it’s going to take a national commitment. Among the policies the Congress can enact this year is to place a price on carbon dioxide pollution. Multiple sources confirm that carbon pricing alone will reduce the US’s greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030. There are several well-crafted bills ready for congressional consideration and all of them will use the proceeds from the fee to protect US households from the financial impacts of rising costs during the transition to clean energy.

All it takes now is for Congress to act. Our senators need to hear from us that “Yes, the time has come to put a price on carbon.” The Citizens’ Climate Lobby has a user-friendly tool for doing this. There’s a strong possibility that a decision on climate action will be undertaken in the Senate in the next 10 days, so now is the time to act.

Mary DuPree

Moscow, Idaho