Letter: A Game Changer for Climate Change

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In response to Tom Osborne’s article for Earth Day, there are many things that ring true to me personally about everyday being Earth Day. Having grown up in Los Angeles and being a strong climate advocate all my life, everyday I would see so much air pollution happening right and left and no one was doing anything about it and that made me very upset to see that.

Los Angeles in the past five years has now been incredibly transformed into a model for sustainability and climate change having a master sustainability plan to reduce the public health impacts of increased wildfire frequency and dangerous smog levels that are deadly and are only getting worse with a rapidly warming climate. 20 years ago when I lived in the city that wasn’t even thought of as a possibility.

What I really want to echo from Tom’s article though is that while every day is and should be Earth Day whether in Laguna Beach or Los Angeles what we ultimately need is meaningful policies that price carbon at the source and give all that money back to the American people as a dividend. I couldn’t more strongly agree with that and it’s way past your time for Orange County cities to endorse and support this legislation beyond Laguna Beach and a few other cities.

That is why I strongly support HR 2307, The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act That is strongly endorsed by Citizens Climate Lobby where I am an active member for the Laguna Beach chapter. This piece of legislation is a game changer in every way because everyone can and should be behind it because it will not add any more regulation or red tape for us to tackle climate change and make a positive impact.

Not only is it market-friendly and will ensure we transition faster to a clean energy economy but it will help reduce all the air pollution including in Los Angeles that causes thousands of hospitalizations every year. So this Earth Day let’s truly commit to making carbon pricing and dividend legislation a reality to solve our climate crisis happening here and now not only to save our beautiful beaches in Laguna Beach but to save our lives and health. Our children and future generations are looking up to us to be the one to take action. We owe it to them to ensure a better future for them because we don’t have a planet B.

Amir Baum, Aliso Viejo

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