Letter to the editor for Monday, July 6

Climate policies should align with public opinion

If our federal, state and local elected officials knew that most of their constituents are concerned about climate change and in favor of government support for clean energy, perhaps they would change their policies. Yale Climate Opinion Maps regularly report opinions of voting-age adults in all U.S. counties based on responses to 33 climate-related questions. Their recent results estimate that in Washington’s District 5, 77% want government funding for research into renewable energy sources, and in Idaho’s District 1, 73% want such funding. In WA-5, 73% support generating renewable energy (wind and solar) on public land, and in ID-1, 68% support it. Large majorities favor teaching about global warming in schools, regulating C02, the main greenhouse gas, as a pollutant, providing tax rebates for energy-efficient vehicles or solar panels, requiring fuel companies to pay a carbon tax, developing sources of green energy, transitioning from fossil fuels to clean energy by 2050, and building solar in the local area. Majorities in WA-5 and ID-1 are worried about global warming, its harm on plants and animals and future generations, and its current effects on extreme heat, wildfires, and droughts. In WA-5, 57% want Congress to do more to address global warming, and in ID-1, 51% do, and similar numbers say global warming is important to their vote. 

Voters want renewable energy and expect their elected representatives to deliver, at every level of government.

Leonard Garrison

Moscow