I very much enjoyed the article by Tom Osborne this week and fully agree with everything he wrote. If everyone treats everyday like Earth Day, we would have a cleaner world. However, this is not enough as Tom points out.
We need to view that today we have a climate emergency. We need to take legislative measures as soon as possible. Tom writes about the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (EICDA), which I agree is one of the most important legislative acts we can take. This would be the backbone of any Congressional action to mitigate our climate change. There would also need to be companion bills passed to enhance carbon emissions reduction as well as reduction of other harmful pollutants.
To pass any of the above, we need to overcome the resistance towards such policies. Greed, politics, and fear of change, appear to be the most prevalent reasons, as climate change is undeniably scientifically factual. I imagine fear of change is likely in part due to personal job loss concerns, as well as, that of the massive job losses in the community where those people live.
Therefore, I believe any climate emergency policy has to recognize that previous fossil fuel experts and workers need a commitment from the government to be retrained and to be able to use their good skills in the renewable energy sector, infrastructure rebuild sector, or some other growing field due to the changes away from fossil fuel use. If we remove the fear portion of the resistance, perhaps the path forward is indeed achievable. Then as Tom writes, everyday can be Earth Day… and not just for Lagunans.
Jonathan Light, Laguna Niguel
