Electric cars offer a powerful way for Idaho to combat climate change | Opinion

Choose electric vehicles

As communities across the country grapple with rising fuel costs, air pollution and the growing impacts of global warming, one solution is becoming increasingly clear: the widespread adoption of electric vehicles.

Electric cars offer a cleaner, more sustainable alternative to gasoline-powered vehicles. By producing zero tailpipe emissions, they reduce air pollution and improve public health, especially in urban areas where smog and poor air quality disproportionately affect vulnerable populations.

When you factor in that EVs cost roughly 50% less to fuel and with fewer moving parts, require about half the maintenance of internal combustion engines, eliminating oil changes and frequent brake replacements entirely, the total cost of ownership is now a clear win for the consumer.

Advances in battery technology have extended driving ranges, while the rapid expansion of charging infrastructure is making electric vehicles more convenient than ever.

Owning an electric car is not just a personal choice. It is a meaningful step toward a more sustainable future. By embracing this technology, we can reduce our dependence on carbon dioxide polluting fossil fuels, lower greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to a healthier planet for future generations.

Ron Sadler, Boise

Turn out to vote

Politics is not a spectator sport. Get involved. Not sure how? Vote in every election, and here are some other possibilities. Call, email and write your elected officials with your thoughts and concerns. During the Idaho legislative session watch committee meetings either in person or remotely and consider testifying.

During election season volunteer to help candidates by joining them for door knocking, putting their sign in your yard, donating or following and liking them on social media. Check to make sure your voter registration is up-to-date. Have you moved, changed your name or turned 18? Study the candidates and make a plan for voting. Will you request an absentee ballot, vote early or wait until election day?

Idaho Primary Elections are May 19. Primaries are elections that political parties use to select candidates for a general election. Then each party’s candidates run against each other in November. The Republican primary is a closed primary-you must be a registered Republican to vote in it. The Democrat primary is open to any registered voter.

It’s our right, privilege and civic duty to vote in every election. The May 19 primary election is critically important. Go vote!

Kayla Dodson, Boise

Teach technology use

Schools often preach the importance of no phones in school. There have been arguments about how they affect learning, work ethic and focus. While these arguments aren’t wrong, the issue of cell phones in school could be handled in a better manner than just taking them away or telling the students to put them away. Schools need to teach technology responsibility.

As phones are banned, it’s a different problem of students sneaking them and continuing to get in trouble. Phone bans often fail to solve the problem and instead encourage students to hide their behavior. A required technology responsibility curriculum, starting in elementary school will not only provide better education but better social life. As of now technology is an everyday part of life. It inhibits communications, relationships and work. This curriculum would help students learn from a young age how and when technology is appropriate

Rather than treating phones as a punishment issue, schools can turn it into a learning experience. Teaching students when technology is helpful and when it becomes hurtful. Schools are meant to prepare students for adulthood, so in a modern society we need to prepare students for a modern world.

Katelyn Reed, Boise

Life becoming unaffordable

By now a lot of you are feeling pain, due to gas and food prices, and it is only going to get worse.

But the good news is the Republicans are doing all they can to ensure the pain. Right now, they are working on a budget that will allocate $1 billion not to schools, food assistance but for the Trump ballroom. Yes, that ballroom that wasn’t going to cost the taxpayers a dime, it was going to be paid by donations, all of a sudden, the Republicans have to allocate a billion for it.

I love it when they state the pain of higher gas prices is a small thing to keeping a nuclear weapon out of Iran’s hands. But didn’t Trump state they destroyed their ability to build a bomb? I am sure they could buy one from Pakistan if necessary.

I want to know when did Iran make threats to America that they would use a nuclear weapon on the U.S.? From what I can find on the internet, nothing.

Now were finding that the rest of the world is putting a boycott on American products. The great negotiator seems to have failed even at that.

Jerry Johnson, Payette

National corruption continues

We’re now a nation of corruption at the highest levels of our government. Trump’s family and appointees are profiting from contracts and decisions being made in connection with the Iran war. Jared Kushner is brokering deals in the Middle East while 99% of his vast wealth comes from those same countries.

Trump spends his time talking about his hideous ballroom, “Independence Arch,” and now his National Garden of Heroes. (Where did moderation and good taste go?) He can’t seem to quit spending money, plunging us farther into debt. When asked about Iran, he diverts the conversation to his ballroom; by the way, he didn’t have permission to destroy a wing of our White House. And pay-to-play has become the norm, with unqualified supporters garnering contracts, cabinet posts, ambassadorships, pardons, and more. The qualified people are gone. He has extorted billions of dollars from media companies, law firms and institutions of higher learning, like a mob boss who requires a store owner pay so the mob won’t set fire to their establishment.

Republicans in Congress apparently think all this is just fine. Please vote against every Republican on your ballot in November. It’s the only way to clean up this mess.

Pat Entwistle, Boise