Article Response
Dear Editor: R.e.: ‘‘UN Chief: Scientists Say Extreme Storms to Stay,’’ Sentinel Oct. 4, 2017.
The economic and human costs of this year’s hurricanes require action to lower carbon dioxide levels, starting with decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels. Even Sitka has had record rainfall within the month: 3.31 inches on Tuesday, Sept. 26, followed by abnormally high 1.58 inches the next day. We risk more landslides with excessive precipitation, which have a high cost for our city, whether massive as in August 2015 or lesser as the two on HPR last month.
What can citizens do that can have impact? We can build bipartisan political will in the Congress to respond to climate change, and this is becoming feasible. In 2017, the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus quadrupled to 30 Republicans and 30 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, with 8 new members in the last month. An increasing fee on carbon emissions from fossil fuels will motivate investment in green energy and prompt businesses and households to minimize fossil fuel utilization. Only the House can propose a tax, even a fee on carbon which is distributed as a dividend to all households, so that government doesn’t grow. With the carbon dividend, 70 percent of people come out ahead after prices for gasoline and utilities increase.
We need to convince Representative Young and Senators Sullivan and Murkowski that we want their active participation in Congress toward climate-correcting solutions. Lisa Murkowski’s Energy bill supports research in green energy and batteries, which are important technologies, but slow in having impact. We have a long road ahead of us to lower the 410 parts per million carbon dioxide in the air this sesquicentennial to the level of 286 parts per million in 1867, but we have a way to quickly begin with carbon fee and dividend.
Share your climate concerns with our Congressional delegation, asking them to join or initiate bipartisan action on climate. Let’s help each other build political will for climate solutions.
Kay Kreiss,
Sitka Citizens Climate Lobby
Correction
The letter to the editor by Mike Trainor titled ‘‘Sitka Community Hospital’’ published in Friday’s Sentinel contained a typographical error.
The first paragraph should have said: ‘‘I have been unable to attend meetings or round-table discussions on the fate of the Sitka Community Hospital but as a 44-year resident of Sitka, I am paying close attention and reading all the articles and listening to the radio.’’
The Sentinel regrets the error.
