We all need to be pulling together for a clean energy future, right now. The reasons are many, but the most important reason is to fight climate change.

We are now rapidly headed into a less stable climate system. That threatens our health and safety, our crops, livestock and fisheries, all sorts of infrastructure, especially along coasts and, most importantly, our children’s future.

Clean energy, especially the cleanest (energy efficiency — such as better insulation) and various forms of solar energy, creates very little of the air pollution that causes climate change. Much climate change pollution comes from fuels that burn.

Clean energy helps our economy. It grows more jobs per dollar spent than fossil fuels, and it saves consumers a lot of money over the medium to long-term. It also avoids the health costs and many other shared costs of dirty fuels.

Clean energy in the U.S. receives less than 15 percent of the subsidies that oil, gas and coal receive, and even much less money goes to the cleanest technologies.

There are some challenges ahead in order to increase the use of clean energy, but they can be met if people stay focused upon the most important needs – our health and security, our economy, and our families’ futures.

Ken Hotopp, Newry

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