Charles Franklin - 2-23-2016 - Carbon tax is the way to go.

Carbon tax is the way to go

February 23, 2016

Survival of the fittest and natural selection was the way of the world until human beings came on the scene about two million years. We were able to adapt to our environment and we thrived.

We cared little of what we took from the Earth. We could do without passenger pigeons. We did not need all those buffalo. The verdict is in: People are more important than river smelt. And, once we learned how easy it was to pump oil out of the ground and all the ways it could be used, a tremor shook the world. 

For the last 100 years, we have not been good stewards of our natural resources. Now global warming is upon us. Cap and trade did not diminish toxic emissions; they were just moved around. 

Citizens Climate Lobby has offered a simple solution; carbon fee and dividend. Charge a fee that increases yearly for the extraction and importation of fossil fuels and the toxic emissions they produce. Then return the fees collected to American families to offset the rise in fuel prices. Entrepreneurs like Tesla will develop new clean energy sources. This plan can reduce toxic emissions within 10 years.

Charles Franklin, Clovis

http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article61790417.html

Ruth Afifi - 2/18/2016 - $10 per barrel oil fee would be worth it

$10 per barrel oil fee would worth it 

February 18, 2016

The Obama administration recently proposed a “21st Century Clean Transportation System” funded by a $10 per barrel fee on oil phased in over five years. The fee would raise $32 billion annually for roads and bridges, public transit, rail, and clean vehicle research. Unfortunately, the House Majority Whip says the oil fee is an absurd proposal that will be dead on arrival.
The oil fee should not be dismissed so quickly. Thirty percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are related to transportation, and by reducing them the proposed system would fight global warming. Moreover, the history of a fossil fuel fee in British Columbia since 2008 shows that gasoline use has declined with no harm to the economy.
Of course, the oil industry will fight the Obama proposal just as fiercely as it has opposed climate change legislation in California. The Western States Petroleum Association, for example, recently disclosed spending $10,949,149.83 for “payments to influence” California legislators in 2015. One result was that a mandate to cut gasoline use in half by 2030 was removed from a major bill (SB 350). However, such a reduction could be achieved by a national clean transportation system if Congress would support it.

Ruth Afifi
Fresno

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article60918132.html#storylink=cpy

Don Gaede - 2/17/2016 - Save Earth instead of arguing about it

Save Earth instead of arguing about it

February 17, 2016

It’s official: Global temperatures in 2015 were the hottest since record keeping began in 1880. This is based on independent data collected by NASA and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Institute.

More warming is in store for us because the oceans continue to warm up long after greenhouse gases enter the atmosphere. This phenomenon is called “thermal inertia.”

Unfortunately, political inertia is slowing action on this important issue. But there is hope that the tide is turning. A resolution addressing the threat of climate change was introduced into the House last year, and has been endorsed by 13 Republicans. Two weeks ago, the first bipartisan Climate Change Solutions caucus was formed in the House.

My first grandchild is due to arrive in April. What we do now will have a profound impact on the kind of world our children and grandchildren inherit.

Instead of arguing about it, it's time we started doing something about it.

Don Gaede 

http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article60521896.html

Berenice Alvarez - 1/22/2016 - Marching not for one, but for all

Marching not for one, but for all

January 22, 2016

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.”

That message came across during the MLK march and “Mountain of Food” Collection honoring Dr. King at Fresno’s City Hall. Marchers expressed their aspirations through a sea of signs promoting justice, peace and equality. Although participants of the march came for different reasons, we all came with a dream. 

The same forces that cause persistent social injustices also cause continuous environmental degradation, from which we are only beginning to experience the harmful effects. 

These forces do not only target one. Thus, as a community we must rely on each other to stop these assaults against nature, not only for ourselves and our health, but for our world. Because Earth has provided plenty for us, it’s time to give back. From the burning of fossil fuels, to the overuse of resources, we need a change.

I believe I speak for Fresno’s youth: We are the inheritors of today’s affairs, so we must be the change. For this reason I march, voicing the dream of creating a more livable world. Not for one, but for all.

Berenice Alvarez
Edison High School
Fresno

Giselle Vandrick - 1/14/2016 - It's our duty to save Mother Earth

It’s our duty to save Mother Earth 

January 14, 2016

 As the New Year has begun, many have made resolutions to create a year better than those before. Although we as humans can start this year with a clean slate, our world cannot.

The environmental harm we have caused our planet persists, and we are only beginning to experience the consequences. Rising sea levels and warmer temperatures are just the start.
I am 17 years old, so the damage we have done to Earth over the years are my generation’s burden to bear, even though we seem to have little control over the detrimental actions in which our elders engage.

The comfortable lifestyles that so many of us live contribute to the mess with which the future inhabitants must live and deal. I propose that we, as a community, make it our New Year’s resolution to start taking action to create a cleaner world.

From acts as small as taking shorter showers to bigger contributions such as joining environmental advocacy groups like the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, it is our responsibility to make the world safer for the youth and the generations to come.

Giselle Vandrick, 
Fresno

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article54939195.html#storylink=cpy

Twyla Smith - 1/23/2016 - You cannot eat money

You cannot eat money

January 23, 2016 

Published Feb. 1

The letter by Giselle Vandrick (Jan. 15) brought to mind the Cree Indian prophecy: “Only after the last tree has been cut down, only after the last river has been poisoned, only after the last fish has been caught, only then will you find that you cannot eat money.”

We’re experiencing the worst spate of species die-offs since the loss of the dinosaurs. Scientists estimate dozens of plants and animals are becoming extinct every day. As many as 30 percent to 50 percent of all species are possibly heading toward extinction by mid-century.

Unlike past mass extinctions, caused by asteroid strikes and volcanic eruptions, 99 percent of currently threatened species are at risk from human activities, and global warming is a big factor. 

The ocean is of special concern. Like the bottom piece of a Jenga puzzle, once removed, all the other life systems may come crashing down – including our own.

Twyla Smith

Madera

http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article55897425.html