White: Some different ways to improve climate

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Too often we find ourselves caught up in the horrific news of the moment. While we spend our time and energy bemoaning the latest daily “bad news,” there are often significant events that pass by without rousing our attention.

A recent example is the release of the U.S. Global Change Research Program Climate Science Special Report – Final Draft. This grave missive advisories that climate change will be occurring over the next 100 years at a rate 20 times faster than the earth’s fastest historical natural climate change.

This brings to mind two excellent sources of learning how to slow down the progression of planet’s warming process. The first is Citizen’s Climate Lobby, which advances the marvelous idea of carbon fee and dividend, whereby every bit of carbon that enters the U.S. from any source is subject to a fee, which would be ever-increasing as the years go by.

These fees would be gathered together and returned on an equitable basis to all households. This would allow householders to handle any extra cost of carbon-based energy that they might be subject to, while at the same time encouraging both householders and companies to move toward sustainable energy sources.

This program would add many jobs in the sustainable energy industry while at the same time improving the health of all with a reduction of carbon in our air.

This is a win-win situation – good for all!

Another place we can look to for excellent ideas in our pursuit of a cleaner, cooler climate is the research done by the Copenhagen Consensus Center, a group whose purpose is to gather together the world’s leading economists to address and prioritize major global problems, based upon a cost/benefit analysis of the available options.

The Copenhagen Consensus Center has developed a marvelous collections of ways to handle the global warming crisis and have prioritized a number of possible solutions that can all work together to make the planet cooler, healthier, more equitable and just plain better.

The suggested ways of addressing this problem range the gamut from painting some roofs and other surfaces white, particularly in Los Angeles, so the sun’s rays can be deflected, to planting millions of trees on land that is now relatively bare.

One measure was particularly intriguing, as it affects all of the major problems of the planet, including global warming.

That is population reduction. And the best way to reduce population, proponents say, is by educating girls. As our children are off to school this month, we can remember to encourage our daughters, as well as our sons, to find their inspired interests and to develop a long-term plan to pursue higher education. Most of us in this community are already aware of that necessity.

However, since we are really tied to the rest of the world, particularly where climate change, peace, and safety are concerned, it would certainly behoove us to support groups whose purpose is to educate girls and women in Third World countries.

In many countries around the world, young girls may have to tend younger children instead of going to school, or perhaps walk miles to get water for the family on a daily basis.

Or they may be forced to marry at a very young age and never have a chance to develop their full potential, or any potential at all. With a good education, these girls will have more control over their lives and how many children they have, and be able to keep their family healthy, well educated, and out of poverty.

We are all one on this earth; what we do here has an impact on many others, not only those close to us, but those we have never met, and never will. Besides supporting a carbon fee and dividend, driving less, eating less red meat, chicken and eggs, installing solar panels and so forth, let us be aware of other ways to make life better for the world, especially our own, and promote some of the several programs, both in the U.S. and in other countries, whose purpose is to educate girls. The payoff will be tremendous for everyone.

Sally White is a Valencia resident. Should you wish to learn more about Citizen’s Climate Lobby, you may use this link: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/.
The Copenhagen Consensus can be checked out at: https://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/.

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