Editor,

About the last thing I thought I’d be writing about this holiday season is climate change – climate change and what to do about it.

I’ll make this short and conclude with an invitation to learn more.

During this important giving and receiving time of the year, it’s hitting me that the health of the planet and the people cannot be overlooked. The fourth National Climate Assessment, just published, says it’s so. And so do my eyes and ears and temperature receptors.

Acting on climate is literally the gift that keeps on giving.

But what to do?

In a planet-earth nutshell, we can cut down on burning the earth’s store of concentrated energy: fossil fuel. A second point to focus on is what we eat and how we farm and ranch.

Where to start?

We already know a lot about what to do. Our single best starting point, touching on a variety of actions needed, is to begin paying for planet-earth pollution today, not later. Later is when we are no longer here, but our children are.

So, give our U.S. Congress encouragement to pass the latest carbon bill – filed just after last Thanksgiving – to begin paying for pollution today. It’s the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act.

This latest effort is bipartisan, protects low-income families, and is the simplest proposal possible.

Traditional Republicans understand the need for a well-functioning market system with accurate price signals. Fuel cost should include the cost of fossil fuel pollution. Markets don’t work without complete, correct pricing. Absent an energy market that works, Democrats resort to top-down command and control – not our first choice.

To learn more about climate change and what to do, join Citizens Climate Lobby for a lively Whidbey Chapter monthly meeting. We discuss current topics as a chapter, and link up real time with the other 483 chapters. Please watch for our listing in the Whidbey News-Times community calendar. All are welcome to be part of this nonpartisan effort.

Lee James

Coupeville