Make the right choices

In the Sept. 24 Spokesman-Review, Claire Richards reinforces her son’s fears about a disastrous future because we are not rapidly transitioning to “clean energy’ (“What world will he get?”). She asks, “What’s the worst that could happen?”

Fortunately, all we have to do to know is to look at what is happening in California today. California is currently shutting down Diablo Canyon, its last nuclear power plant (clean, reliable, carbon-free electricity) in favor of wind and solar (unreliable electricity sources that take up 400x the land of nuclear power plants to produce the same electricity). They also kill and displace many wildlife species including golden eagles, condors, bats and desert tortoise among others.

If that’s not enough, California has been implementing rolling blackouts because of their grid’s inability to produce enough electricity at peak times. Is reliable electricity important to your life?

In Washington state we are blessed with cheap, clean hydropower. We enjoy some of the lowest electricity rates in the country and the world. California’s rates are nearly double what we pay in the Inland Northwest. Can you afford for your Avista bill to double?

I would encourage all of you to read “Apocalypse Never,” by Michael Shellenberger. The power to reduce our carbon output is in our hands, if we make the right energy choices.

Rich Zywiak

Spokane