CLIMATE: Step up, America

Two of the values that we share are personal responsibility and investing in our children. We are accountable for our actions. We build better lives for our children. We don’t ask others to do our work for us, or take from our children’s future for an easier life today. Such actions are contrary to our values. Idaho does the right thing, regardless of how hard it is. We find a way.

Our senators and president broke faith with these values when they withdrew us from the Paris Climate Agreement. This communicated that we don’t care enough about our children’s future, that we don’t accept responsibility for our pollution and that we are not accountable for doing our part to solve the problem. The U.S., a now a laggard rather than a leader. Granted, the Paris Agreement is only one step of a challenging journey. Yet, it is an essential step on that journey.

Climate change is a real and pernicious threat. There are effective ways to address it with innovation and small government. One innovation comes from the Citizens Climate Lobby (learn more at their website), and there are others. Most Idahoans accept that modern climate change is real, and humanity’s fault. Yet we aren’t working to solve the problem. Perhaps it’s too distant and “political,” or it seems too hard. Those are weak excuses. It’s time to act. Urge our leaders to join in to help solve this problem. We know what to do. We just lack the will.

CRAIG COOPER

Hayden