shreveporttimes.com
Unfortunately, Americans have been subjected to a steady stream of propaganda, suggesting that concerns about climate change are exaggerated or false. For years, the propagandists denied that change was occurring at all.
With this argument failing, they have more recently started saying that human activity is not the cause or that climate change will be less harmful than scientists think. Our nation’s politicians, with some honorable exceptions, have failed to lead on this issue. Even those concerned about climate change often tiptoe around the subject, as if afraid to ask Americans to make any sacrifices for their country.
But there is more hope for effective action than the oil companies and their friends would have us believe. Granted, the problem of climate change can seem so overwhelming that some people assume that there is little point in individual action. But they are wrong, and in Iowa we are lucky.
There is something easy that we could do to shrink our carbon footprints. For as little as $2 extra a month, we can buy some renewable energy from our electric utilities. When we do this, the utility will use the extra money to buy wind power or some other form of renewable energy. Many of us could easily afford to replace all of our electricity with wind power.
This could make a real difference — since Iowa’s electricity ranks eighth in the nation in its dependence on fossil fuels. Of course, we can urge our workplaces or places of worship to buy renewable energy, too.
What if all of us who care about climate change bought at least a little renewable energy or (if no more was available) attempted to do so? This would send a powerful message about our values: We aren’t willing to impose a life of nonstop climate disasters on our children.
for kid's sake... let's take the path to fossil fuel reduction
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