South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

For our children, now’s the time to act on climate change, reader says

To the editor:

I am a lifelong St. Louis resident and a 1987 Oakville Senior High School graduate.

However, as a seasonal park ranger at Crater Lake National Park for the last 22 years, I personally have witnessed the impact of climate change. For the past two decades, I notice winters there are now shorter, warmer and less snowy.

Science confirms Crater Lake’s snowpack is significantly less, from an average of 614 inches a year in the 1930s to about 455 inches last decade.

The best solution I found is Citizens’ Climate Lobby’s proposed national carbon fee and dividend. We can spur our local and national economy by taxing dirty pollution of oil, coal and natural gas, which causes current climate change. Then we can level the playing field and go “all in,” investing in clean renewable energy, such as solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower, et cetera.

Also, we should support the local Beyond Coal campaign to persuade Ameren Missouri to retire the Meramec coal power plant.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, our local Meramec coal plant accounts for 95 percent of the fixed source of greenhouse gas emissions for St. Louis County. For our children, let’s not wait to take vital actions on climate change.

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