State’s Congress members should back carbon legislation

Our Puget Sound and global ecosystems are about to suffer a “heart attack.”

Every day a person with heart disease who delays a healthy lifestyle inches closer to a catastrophic “date of no return.” Similarly, the overwhelming consensus of climate scientists worldwide, and hard trend data, indicate we have only about 12 years to work toward avoiding the “climate attack” date of no return.

Fortunately, however, many scientists believe that, if greenhouse gases are cut by 40 percent within about 12 years, we can barely avoid irreversible ecosystem decline.

The federal Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (HR763) is supported by the scientific community as an approach that can address this. And it is politically achievable.

However the Congressional website indicates that only two of our Washington members of Congress have signed on as co-sponsors: Rep. Denny Heck (1oth District) and Rep. Derek Kilmer (6th District). We should urge all of our Washington congressional representatives to declare their position on the EICDA, or their preferred alternate approach to how our grandchildren would live after the looming “climate attack” date of no return.

Lee Alley

Snohomish