Letter to the Editor: Thoughts on climate change and Mother’s Day

To the Editor:

With the advent of Mother’s Day, I’m reminded of and grateful for the many experiences and lessons learned from my own mother.  Among the most impactful, are those things she modeled by example. As a lifelong Girl Scout and leader, she imparted the number one rule for girls on a field trip or a night at camp, that being, “always leave a place better than you found it”.

As a mother (and hopefully, someday a grandmother), I am reminded of my duty to carry on this responsibility and help leave the world better than I found it. It’s been a challenge to understand what I, as one person, can contribute to that end beyond recycling, composting and turning down the thermostat. I am fearful of the rapidly compounding effects of climate change, and the conditions in which future generations will find themselves.

For this reason, I have recently joined the newly formed Northeast Iowa chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby, (CCL), an international, bipartisan organization with what seems to me to be a sensible plan to reduce and even reverse the effects of greenhouse gases before it’s too late. Scientists say that warming of the earth will reach an irreversible tipping point in 12 years. If you’ve raised a child and watched them grow, you know those years will fly by. CCL is focused on legislation;, specifically, House Resolution 763, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act as the best approach “towards the adoption of fair, effective, and sustainable climate change solutions”. (https://citizensclimatelobby.org/)

Not a tax, but a fee on source inputs of carbon into the economy, this fee will drive down carbon pollution by encouraging industry, energy suppliers and consumers to find cleaner and cheaper energy options. The fee comes back to each American in the form of a carbon dividend, with the government retaining none of it. I admit that’s a simple distillation of the details which I don’t have  space to enumerate, but I would encourage readers to check out CCL and this fact sheet: https://energyinnovationact.org/how-it-works/. Then, contact our Iowa Representatives who have not yet signed on to the bill. CCL is also working with senators to introduce similar legislation and we can encourage Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst to be part of it.

I miss my mother - and maybe I don’t want another Mother’s Day to go by without invoking her legacy to me. Do what’s right, do what’s good, and leave the world a little better than you found it.

Sincerely,

Amy Webber
Decorah