Letter: Today’s consumers must start cleaning up their mess

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To the editor,

Remember the deadly tornado in Alabama? The polar vortex in January? Australia’s record heat and 4 feet of rain in one week? Are these events related to or caused by climate change? You decide.

Since the 1950s, the carbon-dioxide levels have been rising. Nature can’t balance out the CO2 gas we produce. Don’t you think we should at least stop polluting the environment and take advantage of programs that promote clean energy?

What can we do? We need to change our mindset. Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) supports the reintroduced Energy Innovation and Carbon Fee Dividend Act in Congress (House Resolution 763). The bill’s purpose is to prompt Americans to move away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy. A fee is placed on fossil fuels at the source, starting at $15 per ton CO2 equivalent emissions, and increases each year by $10. All of the net fees are returned to us. Under this plan, about two-thirds of all households would break even or receive more in their dividend checks than they would pay in higher prices, thereby protecting the poor and the middle class.

Since we started this mess, we need to take responsibility for fixing it. The children are speaking. Sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg, of Sweden, started a climate-justice movement in which more than 30,000 children are protesting the government. See also the case of Juliana, et al v. United States of America, et al.

Write representatives and ask them to vote for H.R. 763. Go to the CCL website, click the action button and write to Congress. Or go to www.cbia.com, click the action button and then click Drive Change.

Ron Brandes

Southbury

The writer leads the Citizens’ Climate Lobby Southbury Group.