Bruce Ratcliffe - 1-16-2019 - Carbon windfall stops protests

Carbon windfall stops protests  

January 16, 2019 

 French President Emmanuel Macron has caused himself a big, unnecessary headache. Recent and continuing anti-government demonstrations have led to the worst violence in a decade, with more than 100 people injured as cars and buildings have been set on fire. The violent protests have been triggered by his trying to do the right thing (lowering greenhouse gas emissions) but doing it the wrong way (raising fuel taxes).

If he’d simply taken a page from the play book of Citizens Climate Lobby, Macron would be enjoying wide support now. CCL’s plan, similar to bills recently introduced in the House and the Senate, taxes oil as it comes out of the ground. All the money thus collected is given right back to every American household. Citizens are free to spend their carbon tax windfall any way they wish. Who would protest that?

Bruce Ratcliffe, Fresno

https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article224542700.html
 

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