Applauds cities’ move toward green energy


Ian Bradley’s March 22 story “Calabasas sees power in green energy” lifted my spirits.

The Clean Power Alliance of Southern California is giving municipalities, businesses and residents the ability to voice their concerns about the health of our environment.

The changing climate needs to the addressed locally, nationally and globally, which means reducing our dependence on fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) and at the same time encouraging renewables like solar and wind. The best way to accomplish this lofty goal is to charge fossil-fuel producers for the “actual cost” to the environment.

There is zero doubt that the 21-billion tons of CO2 produced worldwide each year is warming the planet and causing more extreme weather patterns. The result is that taxpayers pick up the tab when these oversized disasters occur. In California, 14 of our state’s 20 largest wildfires have occurred since 2003, and the cost has been enormous. For the year 2017, taxpayers were billed $490 million, with an estimated loss of $85 billion to the California economy.

Water is a major part of this issue. A recent California Energy Commission report predicts 50 percent of the high Sierra snowpack will be gone by the end of this century. This same snowpack provides over 60 percent of our usable water supply.

We can all do our part, from trading in our florescent light bulbs for LEDs, getting our electricity from a green source or, at the high end, converting our homes to solar or purchasing hybrid or all-electric vehicles.

You can also join organizations like Citizens Climate Lobby, 350.org or Sierra Club, all fighting to improve the environment for us, but mostly for our children and future generations.

Tom Seigner
Westlake Village