Smoke-filled skies in the summer. Record-breaking snowstorms that cripple our transportation sector, our schools and our economy. More frequent (and worse) flooding and mudslides. Changes in our climate are having a marked effect on the lives of families living in Snohomish County. Many of us see the downward spiral and feel helpless to make a difference. Legislators representing Snohomish County are meeting this challenge and fighting for us and for our children to have healthy, normal lives free from fear of climate change.
The Snohomish County Climate Alliance would like to thank the legislators from Snohomish County who supported our state’s groundbreaking environmental bills during this legislative session. Thanks to the work of Sen.s Palumbo, Salomon, Liias, McCoy and Hobbs and Reps. Kloba, Stanford, Lovick, Mead, Paul, Robinson, Sells, Peterson, Ortiz-Self, Ryu and Davis, the 100 percent Washington Clean Electricity Bill was passed. This bill ensures that Washington will get its electricity from clean sources by (and hopefully before) 2045. In addition, bills were passed that encourage commercial properties to conserve energy, that reduce hydrofluorocarbons (the worst climate change offender), that add efficiency standards, that encourage electric transportation, that ban fracking in our state, and that encourage research and development in recycling and biochar.
We need to work for further change. While this legislative session has been very fruitful, we cannot stop until our state is carbon neutral. It would be comforting to say that we can take our time, slowly working towards progress, but climate change isn’t like many other problems. We need to continue to push ourselves, taking bold action until this problem is solved. The world has little time to fix this problem before it will have an indelible impact.
Please, contact your legislators and let them know of your support for future generations. Let them know how important our environment is and particularly how important it is to stop climate change. Our children are depending on us.
Jeanine SanClemente
Snohomish County Climate Alliance
Snohomish
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