Write a Letter, Be Counted

Before the holidays, I wrote about an emerging campaign called The Million Letter March.  The concept is to get as many people as possible to write a personalized, hard-copy letter to their representatives, encouraging them to show some leadership on climate action, and work to recognize the true costs of emitting greenhouse gases by putting a price on carbon.

With the new Congress, much of the focus is still on ideological, political bickering.  A strong showing of personalized letters will show that there is support for climate action - and doing so through this project which tracks the letters, will help show the collective impact of many people understanding the importance of moving on this issue.

It will take about 5-10 minutes to write and print your letter, record it in their system and put a stamp on the envelope.  So please go to www.millionlettermarch.org and click "Write Your Letter" at the top of the column on the left.  They have some sample text if you're looking for inspiration - below is a copy of what I sent.  It's not necessary to make every point about why pricing carbon is important - national security, health, driving innovation, saving lives, protecting ecosystems, creating jobs, etc. etc. - but make one or two that are particularly important to you and send it off!!

Dear Senator,

Please do everything in your power to put a price on carbon.  Climate disruption from greenhouse gas emissions is already wreaking havoc on people in the US and around the world, and the longer we wait to take meaningful action, the worse it will get.  The economic impacts of this disruption will be enormous. More importantly, there is no way to put a price on the hundreds of millions of lives that are at stake, or on a species, or a place.  

We must do everything in our power to eliminate our greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible. I support the Million Letter March Principles, found at www.MillionLetterMarch.org, and would welcome a carbon tax.  We need to adopt a science-based target of 350 parts per million atmospheric concentrations of CO2, and take the most sensible and effective measures of getting there. 

Putting a price on carbon immediately is a necessary first step.  Luckily, it is also one that will drive innovation, produce entire new industries, and create millions of jobs. 

Please support a price on carbon through fair, effective climate legislation. Thank you, and I look forward to your response. 

Sincerely, 

Georges Dyer

Stay going.

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