Mailbag: Preserving the planet is a better idea than abandoning it

Preserving the planet is a better idea than abandoning it

I recently saw “The Martian,” a movie about an astronaut left behind on Mars without adequate supplies who had to struggle to exist on the planet’s barren and dusty plains until he was rescued.

It was in stark contrast to our lush, green Earth that sustains such a diverse and plentiful array of life. There may be other Gardens of Eden like ours elsewhere in the universe, but just getting there would take a major leap in technology, and actually colonizing another planet won’t happen for hundreds or maybe thousands of years from now, if ever. The bottom line is we’d better start taking care of this beautiful world we live on because we’re going to be here for quite some time.

As we celebrate Earth Day this month, we’re faced with the sobering fact that the last two years were the hottest on record, as carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere increased at a record pace due to fossil fuel consumption. A recent study published in Nature showed the potential for an Antarctic ice-sheet collapse that would double the sea-level rise predicted for this century from 3.2 feet to as much as 6.5 feet. More than 13 million coastal residents in the U.S. would be impacted by the flooding, including up to 1 million people in Orange County. The Southern California coastline is already experiencing the worst erosion in years, and increased sea levels would further exacerbate the problem, devastating local beach communities.

This is an issue for all countries of the world, and some progress is being made. The Paris agreement will be signed by 120 or so states on Earth Day with the goal of holding the global temperature increase to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court decision to delay implementation of the Clean Power Plan, proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency and President Obama to control the massive carbon pollution from power plants, puts in question the will and commitment to meet our responsibilities.

If we are serious about controlling greenhouse gas emissions, we can’t rely on executive actions that are easily undone by the next president. Congress needs to pass legislation that will provide a permanent and binding solution to climate change by assessing a steadily rising fee on carbon and returning that revenue to households to incentivize the transfer to clean energy. Parity with the rest of the world would be ensured by a border tariff placed on goods from or exported to countries without an equivalent price on carbon.

This is a neutral revenue, no-risk solution that California Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, and Orange County Rep. Dana Rohrabacher can all endorse with our support. The formation of the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus in the House of Representatives shows that the issue is being taken seriously and a promising sign that legislation will truly happen.

Earth Day is a time to reflect on the beauty and bounty of this world we’ve been blessed with and ensure we pass on this precious treasure unharmed to the generations that follow.

In his famous speech about space exploration John Kennedy said, “We choose to go to the moon.”

Our job is to make sure that, if the human race does venture to alien planets in the future, it’s because they choose to go, not because they have to.

Ian MacGregor

Newport Beach