Climate measure an important step

10/26/07
The bill currently before a U.S. Senate subcommittee to tackle greenhouse gas emissions and global warming is far from perfect, but what’s important is that it’s out there. The government must take action on these issues now, and getting the process started is what is most important.
The climate change subcommittee, chaired by Connecticut Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, is discussing a bill that would reduce emissions through a cap-and-trade system, where polluters that exceed government requirements could sell their emissions credits to nonconforming entities. With so many moving parts and intricacies, it’s important to see the project through its early phases and set the stage for real action in the near future.
That the United States is behind in coming to grips with global warming is common knowledge by now. All accepted science shows that the planet is getting warmer, and that human activity is playing a significant part in that process. As the world’s largest economy and still the planet’s top polluter, the U.S. has a moral obligation to lead the way in coming to terms with this potential crisis, and figuring out a way back from the ledge.
Instead, we’ve spent almost a generation making excuses. First political leaders ridiculed the notion that such a problem even existed. Then, and to this day, politicians have sloughed off taking action by claiming that any emissions-curbing move would have a deleterious effect on our economy. This view allows us the comfort of imagining there is no penalty for inaction, and we’re just now realizing the danger of such a notion.
So though there is much to discuss in the proposed legislation, co-sponsored by Lieberman and Virginia Sen. John Warner, what matters most is that it represents a starting point. It’s time to forever do away with the dangerous naivete that melting ice caps and rising sea levels will have no negative effects on our way of life. The time to get going is now.