Climate change: The time for action is now

Few issues evoke immediate emotional responses such as immigration and gun safety.

Climate change doesn’t come with the same immediacy, but the consequences are seriously real: fires and floods taking away homes, ocean acidification and air pollution effecting health and livelihoods, and hotter temperatures affecting our water supply. Abnormal rains in Japan have led to deaths as has excessive heat in Quebec.

Climate change must become a major political issue because we can do something about it; we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We need to ask everyone running for office what they are going to do to mitigate climate change.

Carbon pricing is the most effective method to motivate large change, such as with a nationwide carbon fee and dividend policy.

Initiative 1631 is the statewide effort at carbon pricing that will have a ripple effect in the nation. Equally necessary is educating our young people so they will act to find new solutions and become the leadership of energy change.

Our city has an Environmental Action Plan; the leadership knows what to do, but can we pick up the pace?

We need to pay attention, ask and vote for climate action.