Dear Editor:

 

Poet Wallace Stevens once said: “After the final no, there comes a yes, and on that yes the future world depends.”

So many movements throughout time have met with no after no.  The Abolitionist, the Suffragist, the movement against Apartheid, all met with endless “No!”  Until one day humanity understood the imperative of “yes” to the moral issue of their time.

Today we stand at another brink. The changing climate. January was the 371st month in a row warmer then the 20th century average. NASA reveals temperatures in February have smashed a century of global records by a “stunning” margin.

The Governor of the Bank of England states: “The vast majority of the carbon reserves are unburnable” because burning them will only accelerate the climate crisis.

But “yes” is rising.  Since 2010, global investments in renewables surpassed that of the heavily subsidized fossil fuel industry.

Globally, 96 cities, states and even countries have set ambitious targets to achieve up to 100 per cent renewable energy.  Some of the largest and most recognized companies are committing to — and securing — 100 per cent renewable power.

A tax on carbon is essential as polluters must begin to pay directly for previously-externalized carbon costs. The impact on consumers can be reduced by redistributing the revenues to them.

On this yes our future depends.

Kind regards,

 

Yvonne James

Naksup