In the 2021 Washington State Legislative Session, our lawmakers can be about “Getting Climate Change and the Economy Right,” as recommended in The Herald’s Dec. 6 editorial.
The coronavirus pandemic and associated economic crash are crises that are also opportunities to heal from the pandemic and develop “a green stimulus” that creates good-paying jobs that stimulate the economy and help us mitigate and adapt to climate change. I implore our Washington state legislators to identify progressive revenue to fund this Green Economy that will allow us to recover from this pandemic economic downturn.
This funding could be used to: expand broadband access, provide workforce training for this emerging green economy, provide transition assistance for individuals and businesses, research regenerative farming practices and pay farmers to incorporate those practices (Sustainable Farms & Fields Act), improve the purchasing incentives for local Washington-grown food (schools, hospitals, universities, senior meal programs, etc.), advance shellfish research and deployment to adapt to ocean acidification, fund forest fire and forest health research and deployment and incentivize use of sustainable Washington forest products such as cross-laminated timber and biochar, update our electrical grid to support clean energy technologies, promote commercial and residential building energy efficiency, provide additional funding for electrification of transit and school buses, etc.
One proposed funding mechanism is green bonds backed by a carbon pollution tax; this can yield $16 billion immediately. Such funding can stimulate an economic recovery, create millions of good jobs and begin to address climate change.
James Little
Seattle
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