This has been an intense couple of weeks.  Houston, Texas witnessed extreme flooding and destruction because of Hurricane Harvey and 1,000 people have died due to this year’s monsoon in India.  Despite the assertion by many that climate change is fake news, it is not.  Ask anyone in Houston, Bangladesh or Mumbai.

As Mark Reynolds said, “In times like these, we have to ask ourselves: How many more storms will force us to measure rain in feet, rather than inches? How many more billions of dollars of strain will we put on the National Flood Insurance Program? How many more people are we willing to displace from their homes, or lose completely in extreme weather events like these?

Those all basically boil down to the same question: How many more years will we dump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere with impunity? Because as long as we’re doing that, we’re signing up for more of the same—and worse. It’s clear we are past the stage of just changing a few lightbulbs. We need comprehensive legislation to shift the market away from the greenhouse gases causing climate change. Putting a price on carbon is the only legislative move that matches the scale of the problem we face.”

Let us elect politicians who are willing to make the necessary changes, so that we can all look forward to a brighter future.

Many of you are concerned about global warming and how it affects you and your family.  A new book, “Drawdown:  The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming” by Paul Hawken looks at what can be done to stop it and even reverse it.

As many of you know, there are 406ppm of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.  That number should be 350ppm.  Some of the most effective solutions to cutting carbon include educating girls in the developing world, so that they have fewer children, and reducing food waste.  Reducing food waste would save 70 gigatons of carbon emissions.  Another solution is for people to eat less meat and choose plant-based diets instead.  If everyone ate a vegan diet the world would cut emissions by 70%.

Other solutions involve scaling up solar farms, growing trees on pastures where cows graze, and managing refrigerant (the chemicals used in refrigerant have a much higher global warming effect than carbon dioxide).

Of critical importance is also your role with regard to politics.  Anna Goldstein served as a research fellow for the book and said, “The role of individual citizens in policymaking is to show our policymakers that you care, and not just that you care a little bit, or that you’re worried a little bit, but that it’s a strong motivator.”

I encourage you to read the book and find out about the other 93 solutions.