The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration recently warned, ‘The future is already here, a floodier future. We cannot wait to act. This issue gets more and more urgent and complicated with every passing day.”

Will members of Congress heed that warning? Will they finally start pricing carbon, as urged by economists and by the U.S. Conference of Mayors? The mayors want Congress to “pass legislation that imposes a price on carbon emissions sufficient enough to reduce carbon emissions in line with ambitions detailed in the Paris Agreement.”

There is in fact a bill in the House, H.R. 763, that proposes pricing carbon, but few Republicans have signed as sponsors. Odd: the Climate Crisis in general, including coastal flooding, is bipartisan, so why don’t we combat it with bipartisan efforts?  Please, Congressmen and women, vote for H.R. 763 and follow it by passing a similar bill in the Senate.

If we voters were using mics instead of letters, we would tap on them as Greta Thunberg does, and ask, “Is this mic working? Can you hear me now?”

Fern Stearns

Hallowell