Climate change legislation
Thank you, for printing letters to the editor like Erin Sherman’s on climate change (The Capital, Nov. 25). Last week, when congressional staffs were back in the office after Election Day, I lobbied Congress as a citizen constituent.
As a member of Citizens Climate Lobby, I traveled to Washington, D.C., at my own expense to lobby in favor of Carbon Fee and Dividend, legislation pricing carbon emissions and returning revenues to households. Such carbon pricing would provide incentives for fair market innovation and promote a level playing field for non-polluting renewable technologies. It’s an important first step toward reducing carbon emissions and is recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its latest, very dire, report. We need to pay the true cost of using fossil fuels.
I was one of over 600 volunteers who participated in 423 pre-arranged meetings with Congress. CCL has over 110,000 citizen volunteers from 450 chapters worldwide. All of us know we must make the case to counter man-made climate change; the world will become unlivable if we don’t act. We seek to make CF&D legislation bipartisan, a bridge issue, not a wedge issue.
In my meetings, two with Democrats and two with Republicans, there were no climate deniers, but people of quality, civility, and intelligence who listened. We choose to influence government using respectful dialogue.
Climate change is the biggest, most costly issue of our time. It affects national security, economic stability, health, crop viability, social justice, and the future of all children. Let’s face it together.
MARGARET W.CHEN
Annapolis
Gun violence
Maryland state delegate-elect Heather Bagnall makes an excellent point in declaring gun violence a health crisis.
If this helps schools educate about gun safety, if it spares just one life, it will be worth it. It would be particularly salient to teach older students the history of the National Rifle Association, whose original purpose was to foster gun safety. The NRA’s mission has become politically charged only in recent decades.
Her larger point that we cannot brush off gun violence by blaming the mentally ill is well-taken. Every single one of us is capable of violence.
Unfettered access to all kinds of riflery amplifies the potential for great harm. At the time the Second Amendment was written, weapon technology included muskets and flintlocks. One shot, then reload.
Come on, people- does anyone think the framers had semi-automatic shotguns in mind when they wrote that ill-fated amendment?
MICKEY GOLDBERG
Severn
Thanksgiving and God
Regarding Tom Travers’ scolding letter to the editor, in which he complains that The Capital did not mention God in their Thanksgiving edition, I can only remark that Thanksgiving, unlike Christmas or Easter, is not a religious holiday (The Capital, Nov. 26).
There would be no real reason to mention God. In celebrating this day, we can either include God or not, according to our personal belief.
JEAN FOLEY
Millersville
