As a soon-to-be college graduate, I know that my generation sees environmental issues as important because we know our future is at stake. Addressing climate change cannot be postponed any longer, especially in Pennsylvania, the fifth largest greenhouse gas emitter in the nation.
To address climate change, Pennsylvania should join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a program that sets limits to the amount of pollution that power plants create, with those limits becoming more strict over time.
If Pennsylvania joins this program, emissions will decrease and air quality in the region will improve. Emitters must pay for their pollution, and that money would be a source of revenue for the state. Other RGGI participants have received over $2 billion to date.
We are seeing the impacts of climate change now, and those results will only become more devastating the longer we delay action. There are currently bills in Pennsylvania’s House and Senate that would prevent Pennsylvania from joining RGGI. I hope my state legislators will protect our climate and vote “no” on these bills.
Gena Carter
Hampton
The writer is a student at Chatham University.