Climate Change
Dear Editor: In Copenhagen, on Dec. 6, 2009, as negotiators were headed to U.N. Climate Talks, a group of U.S. business leaders and liberal thinkers wrote a letter to President Barack Obama and put it in a full page ad in the New York Times.
Among other things, the open letter stated that “Investing in a Clean Energy Economy will drive state-of-the-art technologies that will spur economic growth, create new energy jobs and increase our energy security, all the while reducing the harmful emissions that are putting our planet at risk.” One of the signatories was Donald J. Trump. Three of his adult children also signed the letter.
In a complete turnabout, on June 1, 2017, President Trump made the declaration that the USA would withdraw from the Paris Accord. This global agreement set targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and restraining the rise of global temperatures.
In the Daily Sitka Sentinel on June 19, 2017, front page, there was a report of two Sitkans, Kay Kreiss and Barb Bingham, who traveled to Washington, D.C., to lobby for climate action. They are members of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby and they participated in action to support mobilizing ordinary citizens in a nonpartisan way, to pass legislation that would put a fee on fossil fuel.
States that have active chapters of Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) are: AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, IL, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MD, MS, MT, MD, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, PR, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY. Check out the website and learn how all of us can be a part of solving climate change. https://citizensclimatelobby.org/
I encourage everyone to participate in writing to your U.S. legislators for Alaska: Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Don Young.
THERE IS TIME TO SAVE OUR PLANET!
Judith Kearns-Steffen, member,
Citizens’ Climate Lobby,
https://citizensclimatelobby.org/
