Assemblyman Henry T. Perea lacks vision

Get off dependence on Mideast oil (and fracking and the Koch Brothers and tar sands oil)! Go solar! Divest from oil products! Buy an electric car! Or just be careful to turn out your lights and simply use less energy!

We all can do something. California has always been a leader in addressing climate change. I’m sorry that Assemblyman Henry T. Perea was a leader in removing the section of SB350 that would have set a goal of a 50 percent reduction of California’s use of fossil fuels by 2030. He was rightly concerned about the economic impacts such a move could have had on the poorer communities of the Valley and state.

However, climate change already has an even greater impact on the health and lives of those marginalized groups. Maybe if Assemblyman Perea were more visionary, we could have set the bold goal of reducing our fossil fuel use by 50 percent, and then figured out a way to help the communities most affected by the economics of the changes.

We are all in this together, climate change is reaching a tipping point, and only bold changes will save us. This is an emergency that is sneaking up on us.

This story was originally published September 24, 2015 at 5:58 AM with the headline "Assemblyman Henry T. Perea lacks vision."