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To the editor:
I attended the climate change event hosted by the Democratic Women’s Club of Santa Cruz and described in Max Chun’s March 17 article. Representatives from organizations that are doing important work to address local environmental problems spoke from the heart about protecting life (human, flora and fauna) on the Central Coast in the face of accelerating climate chaos. They acknowledged that we are running out of time to reduce the scope of suffering that our still-increasing greenhouse gas emissions are causing.
They spoke of connecting people with nature to inspire environmental action thus generating hope, and posited that investing in people is an investment in the environment.
While these are good and lovely sentiments, the behavior change they might engender will be too long in coming. I was disappointed that at a political forum, no specific legislation or regulations were put forward that might move our society faster toward the changes we must make to survive. We need incentives and penalties to promote faster conversion away from burning fossil fuels in our homes, buildings and vehicles; policies to promote and support public transportation, electric vehicles, building electrification and home energy efficiency upgrades.
Without government push/pull to make these transitions the easiest, most affordable options, our carbon emissions will continue to climb, and we will see the worsening effects of that.
Alissa Klar
Ben Lomond