Andrea Farber De Zubiria - 7-25-2021 - Dyer takes key climate step

 Dyer takes key climate step
July 25, 2021

  Wow. Is it OK to start a letter that way? I hope so because I am personally “wowed’ to discover that Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer has joined the Climate Mayors Network. This is a bipartisan network of 470 mayors from 48 states who are committing to meaningful action to address climate change in their communities. 

By joining this network, our mayor shows he understands we have a great opportunity right now to improve our prospects for quality of life by focusing on sustainable and equitable economic growth and recovery. The Climate Mayors want to reduce greenhouse gases to clean up our air and stabilize our climate. They encourage investing in industry that brings clean, well-paying jobs, access to clean water and clean energy. 

I am hopeful that we will eventually get some carbon pricing legislation passed at the federal level to support the goals of the Paris Agreement. But while we wait for Congress to battle it out, I truly appreciate that Mayor Dyer has joined this group of pro-active mayors trying to make tangible improvements to our health and well-being. 

Andrea Farber De Zubiria, Fresno

https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article252966413.html

 

Bruce Ratcliffe - 7-25-2021- We are beyond climate warning

 We are beyond climate warning

July 25, 2021

Breaking news: Heat in Pacific Northwest is “historic, dangerous, prolonged and unprecedented.” Western drought upgraded from “extreme” to “exceptional;” worst in 1,200 years. And yet, millions of Americans still doubt global warming. Why?

There are two reasons the danger of global warming has been so difficult for so many to heed. Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe highlighted the first. In the dead of winter he brought a snowball into the Senate chambers and had a good laugh about global warming. Yes, Jim, cold days still happen. But they’re getting harder to find. Since 1894, nine of the 10 hottest years in Fresno occurred in the last decade.

The second is highlighted by predictions of what a 4 degree Fahrenheit-hotter world would be like: grim. It’s hard to imagine how intolerable. Portlanders no longer need to imagine. This summer, global warming is serving up a preview of that world. The weather for the entire Pacific Northwest has been as much as 40 degrees hotter than “normal.”

It is time for Congress to pass a carbon tax (the Energy Innovation Act, HR2307), to begin addressing the approaching disaster. No longer can we say we haven’t been warmed.

Bruce Ratcliffe, Fresno 

https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article252966413.html  

Matthew Armstrong - 6-27-2021 - U.S. Military and Climate Change

 

https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article252349163.html 

Letters to the editor, June 27, 2021

U.S. military and climate change

Climate change is routinely treated as, at best, a “liberal” issue, and at worst derided as a hoax by many lawmakers and a not-small percentage of the public.

Ironically, those same people tend to speak highly of the military. The U.S. Department of Defense, as well as similar military organizations in other nations, have long pointed to the dangers posed by climate change. As the most recent example, the International Military Council on Climate and Security (a group composed of military officers, including a number of U.S. officers, and civilian experts, and led by current and former military officials), recently released a report identifying a number of ways in which climate change poses a threat to military readiness and response. That ranges from increased conflict over less water supplies to the effects of flooding on coastal military facilities.

If politicians and media are being honest about their positive views of the military, then they will pay attention to this — armies and navies are not bastions of “liberal propaganda” and don’t tend to fall for hoaxes very easily. If they are taking this seriously, then we are well past time for lawmakers to do so.

Matt Armstrong

Fresno