There is a way to act against climate change

It is with mixed emotions that I “enjoy” this hot spell, which is continuing a trend of higher-than-usual average temperatures we’ve experienced over the last nine months.

“This is the eighth time in about a year that a 500 year rainfall has hammered the US” reads another headline, Louisiana being just the latest to get inundated. People in six states have died due to flooding in the last 15 months and the property damage has been daunting.

“Fatal floods catch South off guard”, reads the headline, but truthfully, this is looking like the new normal. NASA reports last month was the hottest recorded in the Earth’s history. Climate change is having a devastating effect on forests around the world and there are signs of trouble here in the Northwest.

I witness the change even in my own garden as my native silver fir and hemlock have died. How will things be when my children and then my grandchildren are my age?

We need to move forward on climate change now by voting for Initiative I-732 this November. Modeled after a plan that is reducing fossil fuel use very well in British Columbia, I-732 improves our regressive tax structure for individuals and manufacturers while taxing fossil fuels at gradually increasing rates, encouraging the development of a clean energy economy.

I recommend the detailed analysis by the Sightline Institute for further information. Please vote with me in November.

This story was originally published August 31, 2016 at 4:07 PM with the headline "There is a way to act against climate change."