Letters

There is a silver lining to the pandemic we are now experiencing. A crisis — and this is a “good” one — puts us in an incredibly vulnerable state and makes us very aware of what is truly important in our lives.

It is an all too human tendency to postpone action and think that there will be time to think about it later. If we had been better prepared for the COVID-19 outbreak, fewer lives would have been lost.

We are not prepared for climate change.

We know that the earth is warming, sea levels are rising, species are becoming extinct, people have to leave their homes due to flooding, and our lives are changing. Scientists and environmentalists have documented this, and our young people have begged politicians to act. Think Greta Thunberg, Time’s Person of the Year.

What can you do? Write U.S. Representative Lee Zeldin and ask him to support the Bipartisan Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, HR763. This bill would charge a fee on fossil fuels at the source (mine, refinery, pipeline) and would return 100 percent of net revenue to households as a dividend.

This would reduce carbon emissions by 40 percent over the next 12 years. When the program has reached its goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 90 percent below the 2015 levels, it will automatically end.

We are all in this together, and while many of us are staying home, let’s be productive and work to get this legislation passed while there is still time to stop another catastrophe.

Diana Lindley

Southampton

Ms. Lindley is co-chair of the Long Island East Chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby — Ed.