By Huck Fairman
As most local readers are aware, 2016 was the hottest year on record; 2015 was the second hottest, and a number of recent years have been in the top 10. Our climates are changing — last summer in Mercer County was unusually hot — fortunately we received enough rain to keep things from drying up entirely. But we’ve seen the impacts of extreme weather across our country and around the world., Yet is there anything concerned citizens can do to help slow, and eventually reverse, this trend? While turning to renewable energy — solar, wind, electric vehicles, and possibly nuclear — are important steps individuals, towns, and companies can take, science warns us that we don’t have much time. If we are to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere (by both reducing emissions and sequestering them,) we need to act quickly and comprehensively, before the climate changes we have set in motion exceed our ability to control them. Already a number of observable changes are occurring faster than scientists predicted, even just a few years ago., One organization that is focusing on these issues is the national and international Citizens’ Climate Lobby. Its Princeton chapter, and those elsewhere in New Jersey, across the country, in Canada, Europe, Africa, and Asia are coming together to “create the political will to make a livable world.”, The CCL is a non-partisan, largely volunteer organization whose purposes include reaching out to political leaders to encourage them to legislate the changes necessary to survive. They also include encouraging CCL members to write letters to newspaper editors, or to write op-ed pieces. They include meeting with state and national political leaders and/or their staffs, to share views and suggest strategies., It’s single most effective strategy — one supported by Republicans such as former Secretary of State George Shultz, as well as Democrats — is the implementation of a carbon fee and dividend, which is a market-based strategy to reduce the usage of fossil fuels — the driver of global warming., Members of Congress have come together, across party lines, to establish the Climate Solutions Caucus in which nine members from each party are collaborating to formulate climate solutions legislation. Citizen support of this caucus (as the CCL has undertaken,) is key to its success, as it is to most legislative initiatives., But is this approach seen to be effective by local residents and national citizens? In the last year, the mailing list for the Princeton chapter has more than doubled, increasing from 160 supporters to over 350. Nationally the number of CCL members has also doubled, from 25,000 to over 55,000., The number attending the Princeton monthly meeting leapt up, after the election, by more than twice. People now see that something needs to be done to deal with this most-important issue, and they understand, more widely than ever, that they must be involved, if they want action on climate change., But CCL national leaders warn that this effort will not be a quick or easy fix. Success will come from the patient and persistent build up of popular support. While the CCL national leadership reports that in the last year members sent 46,000 personal letters to members of Congress, and their staffs, clearly there is a ways to go before the nation as a whole follows the leads of Canada, a number of European countries, and the state of California in adopting variations of placing a price on carbon., For those interested (and we all will be impacted, one way or another,) go to the CCL website. Sign up — it costs nothing. Listen to the introductory call., Watch a 2-minute video. Learn about the environmental and economic benefits of a carbon fee and dividend. Visit CCL Community. Email the Princeton chapter’s leaders: [email protected], or [email protected], or call the national headquarters to reach other local contacts. Join the June meetings with Congress members and their staffs in Washington, D.C . Or attend regional conferences through the year. Above all, the CCL’s goal is a call to action. Science tells us the time is now., Huck Fairman is a Princeton author who writes SOLUTIONS regularly about environmental issues.
