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Thanks for efforts to stop climate change

December 29, 2017

Great article on the University of Delaware study on sea level rise! The results of that study confirm what most of us have long known - that climate change, along with land subsidence, are causing our Delaware coast to be threatened more and more by sea level rise. Thank you, UDel!

Also on my thank you list are our federal representatives, U.S. Sen. Carper and Sen. Coons who have spoken out repeatedly for a livable world.

We should also thank our new Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester, who is searching diligently for a Republican partner to join with her to add to the bi-partisan House Climate Solutions Caucus. Already this caucus has 31 Republicans and 31 Democrats who are prepared to find good solutions to the devastation that climate change is causing. Democratic congressional members, like Lisa, cannot join the caucus without a Republican partner. We wish her well in her search.

Our preferred policy option is to put a price on carbon, make polluters pay, and use market forces to reduce our addiction to carbon pollution, giving industry and individuals the incentive to move to clean energy. We like a revenue-neutral fee and dividend approach, that gives all the money back to American families in a monthly check, so the size of government does not grow. That should appeal to small government advocates.

On the other hand, other policy options are being considered by the House Climate Solutions Caucus, such as the cap-and-trade approach that has worked so well to curb acid rain and reduce the substances that eat a hole in our ozone layer.

Cap and trade has also performed well in reducing carbon emissions here on the East Coast and in California. Delaware is part of the multi-state RGGI, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which is a cap-and-trade pollution-reduction technique. And now China is starting its own cap-and-trade.

State and local efforts are needed too. Thanks to our Gov. Carney, we have pledged to meet the targets set under the Paris Agreement. Thanks to RGGI, we in Delaware are well on our way to meet those goals.

Thanks to our Lewes town government, and especially Mayor Ted Becker, for showing leadership, showing that towns and local governments can step up to do the right thing, pledging We Are Still In, that is, still in or part of those who will stand by the Paris Agreement to stop climate catastrophes.

Charlie Garlow
Citizens Climate Lobby - Lower DE
Rehoboth Beach

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