Salt Lake City is in a protracted drought. Our air quality has been “unhealthy for everyone,” for much of the past month. We live in fear of a catastrophic wildfire threatening our city, and temperatures seem to get hotter every summer.
Currently, the U.S. Senate is working on a budget reconciliation bill that could include a fee on carbon. A price on carbon has been identified by thousands of scientists and economists as the fastest, most effective and least economically damaging means of transitioning away from destructive fossil fuels.
This is the defining challenge of our times. If we fail to take meaningful action to avert the worst impacts of climate change, my generation will have to look members of younger generations in the eye and explain how we failed to safeguard their futures.
Now, more than ever, we must persuade our senators to look past political expediency, and consider their role as representatives of the people, particularly younger generations. Many younger people are in despair, not only because of the dire climate outlook itself, but because they do not see Congress taking this crisis seriously. They see wealthy leaders from an older generation making decisions that discount their futures. Perpetual economic growth at the expense of a livable planet is simply not viable.
Please write and call our senators to ask them to support a fee on carbon. By doing so, you are supporting a viable future for our economy, our young people and our planet.
Simon Diggins, Salt Lake City
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