Citizens Climate Lobby seeks bipartisan solutions

Massive storms and raging wildfires fill the news lately, much covered in The Bee. The connection of these disasters to climate change has also been reported. While there is no direct connection between any given natural disaster and global warming, all climate models show an increase and intensity in wildfires, hurricanes, droughts, floods and extreme weather events.

How heartening, then, to see Republican senators, and their counterparts in the House, joining the bipartisan climate solutions caucus, including conservative stalwart Sen. Lindsey Graham. What’s brought these disparate lawmakers together is a carbon-reduction program of tax and dividend put forward by former secretaries of state James Baker and George Shultz and former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, under the aegis of the Citizens Climate Lobby. A simple Google search will inform anyone on the details of the program.

Given our watershed in the Sierra Nevada is under visible siege by drought and massive tree die-offs, the deleterious impact climate uncertainty will have on agriculture in the Valley suggests that Reps. Jim Costa, Devin Nunes, Jeff Denham, David Valadao and Tom McClintock join their bipartisan caucus colleagues to find creative ways to ensure that the economic and social fabric of our Valley remains strong into the future.

This story was originally published September 22, 2017 at 2:51 PM with the headline "Citizens Climate Lobby seeks bipartisan solutions."