Jennifer Martin - 12-15-2018 - Bipartisan bill good for climate

Bipartisan bill good for climate

December 15, 2018

 

Stop the presses — bipartisan cooperation has just been detected in Congress! The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (HR 7173) was introduced by Republicans Brian Fitzpatrick and Francis Rooney and Democrats Ted Deutch, John Delaney, and Charlie Crist. Its goal is to “drive down America’s carbon pollution and bring climate change under control, while unleashing American technology innovation and ingenuity.”

This bill would greatly benefit the air quality of our San Joaquin Valley by encouraging the shift from fossil fuels to clean energy, and at the same time put money in people’s pockets with a monthly carbon dividend check.

It’s a bill that both red and blue America can get behind. Let’s tell Congress we want bipartisan action on climate change, and help preserve a healthy climate for our children and grandchildren.

Jennifer Martin, Fresno 

With Don Gaede

https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article223088360.html

Bruce Ratcliffe - 12-4-2018 - Good column on climate change

Good column on climate change

I’d like to thank the editors of The Bee for publishing Dana Nuccitelli’s authoritative, and highly informative article (“The Many Ways Climate Change Worsens California’s Wildfires”). It brings together may lines of evidence to allow readers to gain a better understanding of global climate change, and what the future will be like if we don’t get serious about making necessary changes. One obvious step in the right direction is Citizens Climate Lobby’s proposal for a carbon fee and dividend. Even more obvious (as the article makes clear), no step is a big step in the wrong direction.

Bruce Ratcliffe

December 4, 2018

 https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article222565985.html

Andrea Farber De Zubiria - 11-28-2018 - Lessen climate change, swat a mosquito

Lessen climate change, swat a mosquito

November 28, 2018

I bet I’m not the only one glad that Fresno County’s experiment to release sterile male mosquitoes temporarily reduced the numbers of biting females around here. With the longer, hotter summers in the Valley, we can expect more of these nasty Zika and West Nile carriers.
But this program is not enough in the long-term, especially with the way that insects mutate and proliferate. We all know to clean up standing water where they breed. But Congress can actually help stop the warming, along with our worse fires, storms and air pollution.
Some courageous Republicans are joining forces with Democrats. They are starting to consider laws that would encourage a transition to practices that will stop the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. One proposal is to put a gradually rising fee on coal, oil and gas where it is produced. The fee would go to American households as a dividend. You can look up the REMI study and see how this would also create more good-paying jobs, and clean up our air and water. Hopefully we won’t have to save up for high tech mosquito repellants!

Andrea Farber De Zubiria, Fresno

https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article222224840.html

Read more here: https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article222224840.html#storylink=cpy

Devin Carroll - 11-5-2018 - Pick Candidates on Climate Change

Pick Candidates on Climate Change

November 5, 2018

When choosing a candidate for Congress, please look at their positions on climate change.

This is a local issue for the San Joaquin Valley. The University of California published some frightening predictions. They show the number of days over 105^oF, when it becomes dangerous to work outside.  Before 1990 is was about 4 days per year. It is already rising and may reach 55 per year in the lifetime of today’s young adults. (See cal-adapt.org)

Crops will need more water in such hot weather, but the water supply is becoming more unstable. U.C. predicts more droughts and more flood years.

Some of our most valuable crops may be abandoned because they will not withstand the heat.

Pollutants such as ozone also increase in hot weather. We will suffer more illnesses such as asthma.

These are just some local problems. Many regions of America and the world will fare even worse.

But it is not too late for action to help us.

Vote for a candidate who cares as much about our future as you do.

Devin Carroll

 

Bruce Ratcliffe - 10-28-2018 - With more storms, no oil drilling

October 28, 2018

With more storms, no oil drilling

Good news on climate change: It’ll stop. As long as we keep burning fossil fuels, adding ever more CO2 to the atmosphere, the extreme weather will get worse. But we will stop our shortsighted foolishness. The Weather Channel reported that, due to the ferocity of Hurricane Michael, “BP and Exxon are evacuating workers from platforms in the Gulf.” We can only hope that, at some time in the near future, storms will grow so violent that it will not be possible to drill oil wells offshore. We’ll have to cut back on oil burning because we won’t be able to get it.

Bruce Ratcliffe, Fresno

Read more here: https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article220685410.html#storylink=cpy

https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article220685410.html

Pat Reeves - October 2018 not published - Health care a top issue.

Health care seems to be a top issue for voters in the up-coming
midterm election.
I agree on its importance.  Like most voters, I too want to feel the
security of knowing
that my medical needs will be taken care of.

But I think it’s also important to see how one’s need for health care
interacts with local environmental issues.  We don’t need to take
sides in the climate change debate to realize that the air quality in
Fresno is detrimental to one’s health.  The connection between bad air
quality and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases has long been
known.  More recently,
research studies have linked air pollution to cognitive decline.

With this in mind, I advocate voting for candidates who offer concrete
solutions not only
for better health services but for better preventative health care
measures as well.

Pat Reeves

Don Gaede - 10-18-2018 - Don’t relax the fuel standards

Don’t relax the fuel standards

October 18, 2018

My friends would tell you I don’t get riled up very often. But the EPA’s latest proposal has done the trick. It proposes to stop making any effort to increase the fuel economy of our nation’s vehicles. It would undermine long-standing efforts to clean up our polluted Valley air.

I was at the EPA hearing downtown last week, wearing my white coat, letting them know that this is one doctor — among many — who oppose the change. The executive directors of the air districts of Los Angeles and the Bay Area were also at the hearing, speaking against the proposal. I didn’t spot our own air district executive director, Samir Sheikh. Maybe I missed him.

The proposed change does not sync with the EPA’s stated mission which is “protecting human health and the environment.” Neither does it sync with one of our local air district’s core values, which is “protection of public health.”

If any air district in the country needs to oppose this rule change, our Valley Air District needs to. If any air district in the country needs to support higher vehicle emission standards, our Valley Air District needs to.

Don Gaede, Fresno

 https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article220132535.html

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Andrea Farber De Zubiria - 10-1-2018 - Math on climate change is clear

Math on climate change is clear

Algebra is not my strong point. But here’s some numbers I find interesting, and you might, too.
Last month, the Yale Poll showed that about 70 percent of adults in the Central Valley are concerned about climate change. Majorities in all 50 states, in every congressional district, agree. They also support requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a fee on the carbon that is warming our world, leading to extreme storms, bigger wildfires, insect problems, crop instability and dangerously polluted air. Speaking of math, the Pentagon calls climate change “a threat multiplier” increasing worldwide conflicts and terrorism.
Can we “add” to our economy while “subtracting” coal and oil? Yes! A 2014 study from Regional Economic Models Inc. examined a gradually increasing fee on the carbon dioxide content of fuels, with the money from the fees going back to each American household. The study found that after 20 years, carbon emissions would decline to 50 percent below 1990 levels. The policy is predicted to add 2.8 million jobs to the economy.
When it comes to solving climate change, we need less “division.” If you meet congressional candidates, ask if they will join the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus when elected.

Andrea Farber De Zubiria, Fresno
 October 01, 2018

 https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article219223105.html

Read more here: https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article219223105.html#storylink=cpy

Connie Young - 8-26-2018 - Forest management, climate change

Forest management, climate change

At this month’s Valley Air District governing board meeting, there was considerable disagreement about the relative roles that forest management practices and rising temperatures have played in the wildfires whose smoke has been fouling our air.

I reminded the members that Cal Fire Deputy Chief McClean has said, “It is our changing climate that is leading to more severe and destructive fires.” Supervisor Steve Worthley expressed his passion for improving the way we manage our forests. Dr. Alex Sherriffs said “the two gorillas in the room” are climate change and forest management problems, and we must acknowledge and work together to resolve both of them.

I hope the governing board will give both forest management and climate change the attention and resources they deserve.

Connie Young, Fresno
August 26, 2018

https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article217293935.html

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Latia Taylor - 8-17-2018 - Climate Change and California Fires

Climate Change and California Fires

Published in The Kaweah Commonwealth

I am having a lot of conversations about this terrible fire season that end in a bland, “Well, I hope it gets better.” Frankly, I’m growing tired of this sentiments.

Is that all we’ve got? Throwing up our hands and placing the responsibility for protecting our homes and most treasured wild places in a vague notion of “I hope?”

Are we willing to give up that easily? Are we too lazy to lift a finger in defense of California.

As we mourn one of our very own incredible firefighters, it grates on me to see the same officials and lawmakers that claim to be champions for these brave public servants continue to deny, ignore, and actively undermine attempts to fight climate change. Climate change is the big driver of this shift toward bigger fires that are increasingly difficult to fight. We know it and they know it. They should be ashamed of their hypocrisy.

Want to support firefighters? Fight climate change. Fight it big or fight it small. Do something.

There is so much that we can do. No one has the right to do nothing.

Latia Taylor

Three Rivers

August 17, 2018

Ruth Afifi - 8-5-2018 - Thanks for climate warming coverage

August 5, 2018

 Thanks for climate warming coverage

Many thanks for your continuing coverage of climate change. Your recent editorial about the “terrifying glimpses into California’s future” foretold by the current wildfires is stunning; also outstanding was your July 26 editorial on the relationship between increased temperatures and suicides. The number of valuable articles and letters you publish on the subject differs from TV, where any mention of climate change seems to be bad for ratings. Few media sources inform us that the world’s longer and worse heat waves and the increasing number and intensity of fires are the result of global warming. At least The Bee is helping us make the connection.

Ruth Afifi, Fresno

 https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article216065590.html

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Don Gaede - 8-5-2018 - Misguided Logging, Climate Change

Misguided logging, climate change

I’d like to thank Nancy Kilgore for her Aug. 1 letter about the fires threatening Yosemite; it is indeed heartbreaking. Misguided logging practices and global warming are both contributing to this sad situation. Blaming one side or the other accomplishes little. If we are to have the most impact, we must address both issues. Let’s all work together on this very challenging problem

Don Gaede

Responding to this:

Here’s who to blame for forest fires 

Thank you, environmentalists and Gov. Brown, for destroying our beautiful forests, wildlife, logging businesses and jobs all for the sake of the spotted owl. So many dead trees standing that should have been thinned out along with all the brush over the years. Just shameful! You worry about the spotted owl, but what about the rest of the wildlife that have been trapped by the fires and died. What about homes, businesses and jobs that have been lost. Now our beautiful Yosemite is threatened! Just heartbreaking! 

NANCY KILGORE, CLOVIS

Matt Armstrong - 7-18-2018 - Climate science isn’t partisan

Climate science isn’t partisan

 July 18, 2018

Steve Scalise, a Congressman from Louisiana, has once again introduced a House resolution decrying the alleged evils of pricing carbon pollution. Economists, of both the left and the right wing varieties, endorse such carbon pricing as a way of reigning in greenhouse gases. Scientists who have studied the matter agree that it would work, and should be done.
Large businesses see regulation as inevitable and have favored carbon pricing as a way to introduce reductions without shocking the economy. However, Scalise has decided to defy the economists, business leaders and scientists in an effort to turn a basic fact of science – that gases such as carbon dioxide and methane trap heat and are rising too quickly for the world to adapt – into a partisan matter that he can grandstand on, harming the long-term health of our economy in the process. This is bad policy, bad politics, and all citizens of the U.S. should contact their representatives in Congress and ask them to stand against this sort of nonsense.

Matt Armstrong, Fresno

 https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article215040305.html

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Latia Taylor - 7-17-2018 - Fire ‘year’ cause for concern

Fire ‘year’ cause for concern

July 17, 2018

The west is in the throes of an intense fire season. I work among fire folk, and the consensus is there – it’s early for this. At this time of year, we’re still saying, “Later in the season, when the fuels dry out.” There’s good reason for concern about what’s next.
However, superlatives have become the new normal in fire. The term “fire year” is replacing “fire season,” as we expect to fight fire through December these days. The old-timers will tell you that wildfire has absolutely become a different animal in the 21st century. This year is normal in its abnormality.
Not all fire is destructive; some is ecologically essential. However, the reality is that we can’t stop some of these fires from doing serious damage – we must wait for a winter that has itself become unreliable. Meanwhile, sometimes firefighters die out there. My heart breaks for Braden Varney’s wife and kids in Mariposa.
Until we make meaningful progress in the fight against climate change, such as passing carbon pricing legislation, we can expect these frightening trends to continue. Californians are united by our vulnerability to fire. We must face climate change shoulder to shoulder as well.

Latia Taylor, Fresno
 https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article214990110.html

Read more here: https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article214990110.html#storylink=cpy

Bruce Ratcliffe - 7-13-2018 - Pass Carbon Dividend Legislation

Pass Carbon Dividend Legislation

July 13, 2018

Americans this year celebrated our independence by buying 94 percent of all our fireworks ($900 million) from China, further deepening our trade deficit to a country which, as the recent trade war shows, holds ever more disturbing economic power over us. But there are other ironies that swirl around July 4, 1776.

Did you know that many colonies (especially in the South) were in favor of independence because Britain had begun the process of outlawing slavery? If we stayed aBritish colony, our “peculiar institution” would be threatened. A more up-to-date irony: CBS news reported the morning of July 4 that “75 million Americans [in half of the original 13 colonies] will be in the grip of an extreme heat wave today [soaring into triple digits, factoring in the humidity]”. People are advised to stay indoors and miss the fireworks?

As global warming makes ever more severe cuts into Americans’ freedom to do as we choose, one hopes lawmakers will soon pass carbon dividend legislation, such asthat proposed by Citizens Climate Lobby, so that The Fourth might again be a cause for celebration, not a reminder of what we didn’t do when we had the chance.

– Bruce Ratcliffe, Fresno

Patricia Reeves - 7-5-2018 - Climate change the real deal

Climate change the real deal

July 5, 2018

President Donald Trump has announced that the U.S. will withdraw from the Paris climate change accords – an international agreement to curb greenhouse gas emission. This decision must be challenged. If the evidence on climate change followed one line of inquiry, I too might be skeptical. There is, however, a convergence of evidence following many lines of inquiry – corals, polar ice caps, carbon dioxide increases, tree rings, increased rate of temperature and more.
Bipartisan conversations are a crucial step toward any significant climate legislation. I’m happy to point out that the Climate Solutions Caucus in Congress is made up of 41 Democrats and 41 Republicans who are exploring this most important issue. Please call your member of Congress and ask him to consider joining this caucus. We can’t afford to ignore the evidence.

Patricia Reeves, Fresno
 https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article214283574.html

Samantha Perez - 6-29-2018 - Op Ed - Fresno City student learns valuable lesson: She makes a difference on climate change

Valley Voices

Fresno City student learns valuable lesson: She makes a difference on climate change

By Samantha Perez

June 29, 2018 12:10 PM

Updated June 29, 2018 01:22 PM

We were feeling small, waiting outside the office door. We had planned what we wanted to discuss during this meeting, but still, the three of us students felt, in that moment, very much like students. We were nervous, and unsure of how the meeting would go. None of us had lobbied before, let alone on Capitol Hill. And here we were standing outside the office of a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
When we went inside, we were, to our surprise, greeted by a familiar face. The intern at the office was a Fresno State student, the president of the campus’ Republican group. We had flown across the country to lobby our representatives, and we still ran into someone we know from back home in Fresno. Laughing at this encounter, we were suddenly put at ease, and the meeting started off on a good note.
Rob Jeffers, a student from Fresno State, Emily Salazar, a student from Roosevelt High School, and I, a Fresno City College student, had traveled to attend the Citizens Climate Lobby International Conference and Lobby Day. Over 1,200 people, Democrats and Republicans from all 50 states, attended the conference. It was astounding to see so many people committed to making a difference for a more livable world.
 As a volunteer for the Fresno chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby, climate change is an important issue to me. Though often seen as a liberal platform, climate change is something that is affecting all of us. As a student and young person, I am concerned with the future of our planet, and I fear that it will take our representatives too long to enact legislation to prevent climate change.
At this conference, however, I was given new cause for optimism. So many people were there to make a difference, working together to achieve a policy that will decrease carbon use. And many of these people were students like myself, working beyond political party for a cause that affects all of us. At this conference, climate change was not an issue for liberals. Young Republicans and Democrats were there in agreement that we need to come together to end climate change. It was testimony that people are willing to work together to solve climate change, for the sake of our planet, and for the sake of ourselves.

During the conference, a mixer was held for the student attendees. Rob, Emily, and I met a student from Yale. The next day at the conference, this student along with another from Harvard had a panel discussion on Students for Carbon Dividend (S4CD), a student coalition supporting carbon dividends as a climate solution. Seeing these students succeed in bringing together Republican and Democrat college groups for a climate solution was truly inspiring. This was a student just like us, with whom we had joked around with the day before, leading a national bipartisan coalition of students dedicated to climate action. Emily, Rob, and I felt that this was one of the most important things that we took away from the conference: Young people, of the generation who will be most affected by climate change, are working together for a climate solution, to show the decision makers of our country that we need action now. This is showing our government that a bipartisan solution is possible.
With the Fourth of July coming up, I think it is appropriate to think about the independence and future of our country. We are capable of become increasingly independent, moving away from reliance on carbon that pollutes our world and degrades our lives. Enacting a carbon fee and dividend policy will allow us to become independent of carbon, leading to a healthier world and better future. And as Americans, we all have the ability to stand up and ask our representatives to act, to make a change. This conference encouraged me more than ever to continue to work toward change with people who may hold different beliefs than my own. Encouraging companies to lessen their carbon footprint by putting a fee on carbon, and returning that fee to American households, will benefit all Americans by leading us to a livable place.

Samantha Perez is a Fresno City College student majoring in sustainability.

Read more here: https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article214080074.html#storylink=cpy

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https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article214080074.html

Andrea Farber De Zubiria - June 04, 2018 - When it comes to climate change, GOP and Democrat members of Congress work together

When it comes to climate change, GOP and Democrat members of Congress work together

June 04, 2018 02:30 PM

It’s been on my mind: your article about terrifying encounters recorded on bodycams as police evacuated residents from last years’ wildfires in Northern California. Warmer weather is coming and with it, more huge fires. Many of our public servants and our neighbors will be in the line of danger, and we will all have to deal with the toxic air.
The massive fires are caused by a variety of factors. Experts cite issues with land management and urban development, combined with changes in weather patterns that lead to lots of dry, combustible fuel. The changes in weather patterns are caused by human activities that produce carbon. Even NASA says “there is no question that increased levels of greenhouse gases must cause the Earth to warm in response. “
One ray of hope: There are 39 Republican and 39 Democratic members of Congress working together in a Climate Solutions Caucus. Ideally these leaders will create legislation to put a fee on carbon production. This will stimulate clean technology innovation and job growth, while addressing climate change. Our region is vulnerable. Why haven’t members of Congress from the Central Valley joined the Climate Solutions Caucus?

 Andrea Farber De Zubiria
Fresno

https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article212522609.html
 

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Connie Young - 6-1-2018 - Let’s focus on environmental devastation and climate change and impact on the poor

Let’s focus on environmental devastation and climate change and impact on the poor

June 01, 2018 02:16 PM

During the week of June 4th, a revival of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign will focus on environmental devastation and climate change. Why would poor people care about those things?
One need look no farther than Fresno County for the answer. Some of our poor rural communities still lack access to clean drinking water and remain at risk of pesticide exposure. We all must contend with polluted air and unacceptable rates of childhood asthma.
As for climate change, people with limited health care and other resources are disproportionately affected by rising temperatures. Heat waves can worsen air pollution, which is especially harmful to those with heart and lung illnesses. Unusual changes in rain and snowfall resulting in drought and less snowpack can result in job losses for seasonal workers. For folks without air conditioning or swimming pools, heat waves can be unbearable.
Rev. Dr. King once said, “It would be foolhardy for me to work for integrated schools or integrated lunch counters and not be concerned about the survival of the world in which to be integrated.” Amen, Rev. King….Amen!

Connie Young, Fresno

 http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article212372934.html

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Matt Armstrong - 5-30-2018 - GOP members secretly admit climate change is real

GOP members secretly admit climate change is real

May 30, 2018 05:37 PM

 

Jim Bridenstine, the former Oklahoma congressman turned NASA administrator, has long been a climate change denier, and it appears that he was picked to run NASA in large part because of this. It was surprising then that during a “town hall” style talk to NASA employees he flatly admitted that greenhouse gases cause climate change and that humans are responsible for greenhouse gas emissions. This isn’t surprising, as he likely has known the truth all along, but decided to act otherwise while in Congress for the purpose of appealing to donors who prefer to hide the truth. It has long been reported that Republican members of Congress will openly admit to the realities of climate change when out of sight of the press. It is time for politicians to admit that there are workable bipartisan solutions, such as carbon pricing, that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The public needs to hold reality-denying politicians accountable so that they begin to act in a responsible manner, otherwise we will all be the poorer for it.

Matt Armstrong, Fresno

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article212232559.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article212232559.html

 

 

Andrea De Zubiria - May 2018 - California Wild Fires - unpublished

California Wild Fires

Your article about terrifying encounters recorded on bodycams as police evacuated residents from  last years’ wildfires in Northern California, was on my mind all day.    Warmer weather is coming and with it, a high probability of more California fires.   Many of our public servants and our neighbors will be in the line of danger,  and we will all have to deal with the toxic air.   

The massive fires are caused by a variety of factors.  Experts site issues with land management and urban development,  combined with changes in weather patterns that lead to lots of dry combustible fuel .   

 The changes in weather patterns are caused by human activities that produce carbon.  Even NASA says “there is no question that increased levels of greenhouse gases must cause the Earth to warm in response. “   

 One ray of hope:  as of this week, there are 39 Republican and 39 Democratic  members of Congress working together in a Climate Solutions Caucus.  Ideally these leaders will create legislation to put a fee on carbon production.  This will stimulate clean technology innovation and job growth while addressing climate change.    

Why haven’t members of Congress from the Central Valley joined the Climate Solutions Caucus?  

 Andrea De Zubiria

 

Andrea Farber De Zubiria - March 9, 2018 - Climate Change Solutions Caucus draws bipartisan support

Climate Change Solutions Caucus draws bipartisan support

March 09, 2018 11:41 AM

I appreciated the informative article March 4 about the strategies recommended for local farmers to adapt to climate change. As you point out, our milder winters and warmer temperatures create a better habitat for pests, but a worse habitat for growing grapes, apricots, peaches, plums, nectarines and other important crops in the Valley.
Along with modifying agricultural practices as a way to adapt, I hope you will tell readers about a bipartisan Congressional caucus working toward policies that can actually limit climate change. The Climate Solutions Caucus already has 35 Republican and 35 Democratic members of Congress working on an economically viable solution to the production of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change..
Please let your representatives in Congress know that you want them to sign on to the Climate Solutions Caucus.
I urge journalists and readers to learn about the carbon fee and dividend proposal at www.CitizensClimateLobby.
Protect agriculture and the Valley’s ability to feed us and our nation. We need real action on the changing climate now.

Andrea Farber De Zubiria
Fresno

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article204141114.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article204141114.html

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Don Gaede - February 2018, not published - China Peak snow

2-3-2018

Marek Warszowski’s article about the financial woes of China Peak demonstrates another way that climate change is going to be bad for business--especially the ski business.  Climate scientists say this year’s snow no-show is likely to be part of long-term trend; they predict a 50% decline in Sierra snow pack by the end of the century.

Not surprisingly, climate change has been a top priority of America’s ski industry for at least 15 years.  Their very existence depends on a cool climate.

The National Ski Areas Association website says “Climate change presents challenges to the ski industry that require proactive planning, bold action and leadership.”  They advocate reducing the carbon emissions of their operations through energy efficiency, as well as legislation on climate change solutions.  They also encourage skiers to ask their legislators to act to prevent climate change.

So I call on all skiers, snowboarders, snowmobilers, and other lovers of snow to contact Reps. Devin Nunes, David Valadao, and Jim Costa.  Ask them to pass legislation now to help protect our winter snowpack, and help keep China Peak in business.

 Don Gaede