Ihab Salloum[ad_1]
What terrifies you? What keeps you up at night, simmering in anxiety and dread? Our fears have a way of propelling us into action, driving us to confront the looming specters that haunt our collective consciousness. And lately, those fears have taken on a chilling form – one that cannot be ignored.
The devastation of our oceans, the contamination of once-pristine lakes and streams, and the unthinkable reality of unsafe drinking water in our very own cities have all pushed the environmental crisis to the forefront of our darkest fears. We are witnessing the catastrophic fury of hurricanes, the persistent droughts that reduce entire landscapes to tinder, and the relentless wildfires that devour everything in their path. And as we confront these harrowing weather events, our concerns for the environment grow ever more urgent.
In 2017, the Chapman University Survey of American Fears delved deep into the anxieties of ordinary Americans. This rigorous examination exposed a shocking revelation: four of the top ten fears held by Americans were directly connected to the deterioration of our environment. The pollution of our precious natural waters, the specter of unsafe drinking water, the looming threat of a warming planet, and the suffocating grip of air pollution – these now stand tall among our collective nightmares.
But it is not only the forces of nature that have given rise to our fears; the political landscape has played its part as well. We once relied on the Environmental Protection Agency to safeguard our natural waters, to shield them from the insidious grasp of pollution. Alas, the current director of the EPA, Scott Pruitt, has chosen a different path – one that betrays our trust and desecrates the very agency he was appointed to lead. Major pollution laws have been disregarded, and the EPA’s esteemed Science Advisory Board has been unceremoniously cast aside. Ignorance prevails and knowledge suffers. The dangerous realization dawns: what we don’t know can surely harm us.
The public outcry sparked by the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and the subsequent revelations of lead and other toxins in our city water supplies have left an indelible mark on our collective psyche. The chilling truth looms before us – we all reside downstream from someone, and the pollutants that infiltrate our water sources are bound to infiltrate us as well.
Once upon a time, the effects of climate change seemed distant, almost ethereal – a problem relegated to some uncertain future. But now, as the devastating consequences become more tangible, as we witness the attribution of calamities to climate change and the US withdrawal from the essential Paris Climate Accord, carbon emissions and the suffocating shroud of air pollution come sharply into focus. Images of suffocating smog in China and the heart-wrenching numbers churned out by the American Heart and American Lung Associations, documenting the deaths caused by air pollution and particulate matter, instill a bone-chilling fear for our own well-being.
But in the face of fear, we must find strength. We must rally, we must act. For in action lies the antidote to helplessness. Our fears should galvanize us to demand political action, to drive change in the face of climate change and pollution. Even as our government and the EPA falter, we still possess the power to act, to effect change through the might of the market. The Citizens Climate Lobby presents us with an ingenious solution – a carbon fee and dividend system that tightly grasps the reins of progress. Under this proposed legislative plan, an initial fee of $15 per ton of CO2 at the source would be implemented, increasing by $10 each year until our carbon emissions dwindle to a mere 10% of the levels seen in 1990. This is no mere tax; the entirety of these carbon fees would be rebated back to American households, ensuring that every citizen has a tangible stake in the conservation of energy and the reduction of carbon fuels. This bold plan would not only combat pollution head-on but also breathe new life into our economy. It is within our power as citizens to exercise our rights, to implore our representatives to support decisive action on climate change.
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