Letter to the editor: Barrett’s bill is a ‘first step’ toward climate accord

To the editor,

In early December, a letter was published in the Lincoln Squirrel highly critical of Sen. Michael Barrett’s legislative bill S1747–An Act Combating Climate Change. The goal of this bill is to reduce the use of fossil fuels understood by the vast majority of citizens and scientists around the world to be a primary cause of climate change.

By coincidence, a week after this critical letter was published, 195 countries from around the world met at the Paris Climate Change Conference and unanimously adopted an agreement that documents the role of fossil fuel emissions from human use as the primary cause of climate change. With the bill as proposed by Sen. Barrett, Massachusetts will join a few other states and countries in a leadership role promoting real steps to reduce the use of fossil fuels, the guiding principle of the Paris Accord.

For the first time, enlightened representatives from around the entire world have agreed, and have committed to specific steps and goals to lower greenhouse gas emissions as the primary means of reducing the dramatic effects of climate change. The world has already witnessed rising sea levels, increasing global temperatures, loss of polar and glacier ice, severe droughts, flooding, more destructive storms, as well as food and water shortages.

A world committed to reduced and ultimately eliminated use of fossil fuels will also find a more sustainable economic future in development of renewable energy sources and innovative production means. Legislation like Sen. Barrett’s bill is a first step that must be taken if the goals of the Paris Accord are to be achieved.

Sincerely,

Gary Davis
20R Indian Camp Lane

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.