mactrunk
As I look to harbingers of spring, I am reminded of a letter writer to the Gazette who asked us to contemplate life without the simple pleasure of local maple syrup on oatmeal.
We might even, she suggested, find common ground with climate-change skeptics over an iconic Massachusetts product so exquisitely tuned to environmental temperatures.
Unmitigated climate change could lead to losses much more drastic than maple syrup. Our country is already dealing with rising seas, super storms floods and drought.
Psychologists tell us that people can be frozen in fright, numbed by a sense of futility when confronted by such dire conditions. We want to feel that we can do something to make a difference, to act, to hope.
What do we gain if we stop burning fossil fuels? Better health. There will be so much less carbon and particulates pollution, and less volatile organic compounds, which combine with oxides of nitrogen to form ground ozone. That means fewer lung irritants, lowered incidence of asthma attacks and other cardio-respiratory illnesses, fewer cancers, improved neurological functions (especially in children), fewer days of missed school and work from illness.
We will all breathe easier, with cleaner air and water. We know this to be true because studies have documented the health problems of those —more often poor and people of color — who live in the worst conditions, surrounded by busy highways, factories, refineries and power plants, all burning fossil fuels.
Pollution also blows around and is a global problem. There will be environmental justice when everyone’s health improves!
We have to work locally. We can lead and our neighbors can follow suit. In Massachusetts, we can pass bills to put a price on carbon and its attendant pollutants. Two bills (S1821 and H1726) will return the money collected to the residents of Massachusetts.
There are provisions to help those who are most vulnerable to price increases in energy. Those who conserve and use less energy will come out ahead or break even.
The bills would create more demand for and development of clean renewable energy. Rhode Island and Connecticut both have triggering clauses to act with similar legislation should a neighboring state our size pass a carbon-pricing bill.
We would finally see the cost of fossil fuels begin to reflect its cost to our health and environment. We won’t be left gasping for breath, or grasping for salvation. This is the broad-based solution for which momentum is building.
Please be part of it by your actions. Contact your legislators to show your urgent support. Go to climateactionnowma .org and click on fossil-free legislative campaigns to learn more, and find out how you can help.
We can cut carbon and particulates pollution for better health for all.
Kit Sang Boos
Northampton
