On Monday, my seventh grader was home from the Pittsburgh Public Schools because of heat. I grew up in Miami, where the classrooms often had no air conditioning, and we never had a heat day. Was there a remote-learning day in Pittsburgh last year because of snow? I don’t remember one.
We are watching climate change at work with our very eyes, and the solutions can’t be only in the hands of individual citizens driving electric cars and using energy-saving appliances. Let’s slow down our impact on the climate in a real way, so that these kids in school will have a planet to improve further when they graduate.
I am glad to hear that another plan is in the works, per the article by Ryan Deto “Allegheny County to draft climate action plan” (Aug. 29, TribLIVE), but we need to get from planning to doing. The Inflation Reduction Act can help, calling your congressperson can help, and looking around at the ample evidence all around you can help. We have to do something. Otherwise, heat days may permanently replace snow days, and the kids will only have us to blame.
Jennifer Bannan
Bloomfield