Ah, winter in the Treasure Valley … and inversions. They’re our reality, along with more people, homes to heat, and vehicles. As another winter begins, it’s time to rethink how to reduce the amount of pollutants trapped with us under the low-lying cloud layer.
The smog from vehicles, fireplaces, and industry can be greatly reduced if we accelerate our switch to clean energy sources. How can we do that?
▪ Tell local leaders that we want cleaner forms of transportation and a better bus system.
▪ Patronize local businesses that have committed to a healthy environment and sustainable business practices. [See list at Greenworksidaho.org.]
▪ Tell Idaho Power that we support a faster move away from coal resources, which still made up 24 percent of energy delivered to customers last year. [Idacorp 2016 Sustainability Report]
▪ Support a national fee and dividend plan to provide market incentives for switching to renewable energy while it returns 100 percent of the net fees in monthly dividends to households. [https://www.carbontax.org/dividends/]
Imagine if people had clean transportation choices to get around faster and easier. Imagine that we could all breathe cleaner air. Imagine having more money in our pockets from monthly dividends. Imagine that Treasure Valley winter.
Linda Rytterager, Boise
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