To other concerned parents: If you are like me during this holiday season, you've been spending some time considering the best gifts to get for your children (or grandchildren).
You've been combing through advertisements and websites pondering this or that electronic gadget, this toy or that game, and whether you should buy the new outfit a size larger to account for the inevitable growth spurt. You are looking for something of value, something that will last, something that they will look back on as adults and treasure.
Yet amid this year's Black Friday craziness as we were all coming off too much turkey, the government put out its latest sobering climate assessment--the Fourth National Climate Assessment, which is mandated by federal law and produced by a wide range of government agencies.
If you are like me and the growing number of American parents and grandparents who read such scientific news with alarm yet feel uncertain how to act, uncertain what to give our children; have invested what you can in weatherproofing your house, changing your light bulbs, buying a hybrid car, or even installing solar panels yet worry that one family can't make a difference; see, like me and a bipartisan majority, hurricanes and wildfires as signs of a dangerous future yet don't know how to protect your children from our choices, then perhaps a recent bipartisan proposal, The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, may offer you some hope.
This legislation, HR7173, combines a market-based approach to limiting greenhouse gases while providing resources for families to manage their household's transition to greater sustainability. It is worth learning about. As I understand the research, HR7173 is economically sound. Not only does it allocate a monthly dividend to families and aid in the transition to sustainability, it is also projected to stimulate job growth.
Critics of any climate-change mitigation efforts inevitably will tell you that they don't want to damage the economy. They will say that fixing the environment is lovely as long as it doesn't cost any money. Yet as a parent, I can't understand this mindset and I'm guessing it doesn't ring true to you.
To the extent I can, I spend money on my kids' educations and put more money away for their going away to college. I spend money making sure we have quality health care and insurance. I pay my taxes so that we will have a strong military to defend our nation and my children in an uncertain and potentially dangerous world. Being a parent or grandparent is often about putting aside our selfish spending impulses and investing in our children's future. If someone were to tell you not to provide for your children's future, wouldn't you wonder why? Wouldn't you suspect ulterior motives? Wouldn't you reject the whole idea of ignoring risks to our children's future as irrational and immoral? It certainly doesn't fit with what I hear from the pulpit every Sunday morning.
A little over 2,000 years ago, many of us believe, three wise men traveled far to present gifts to a special child, a child who would bring light and hope to the world. I find myself asking--if I were a wise man visiting the Christ child today, what would I bring? What would you bring? What would the babe in a manger expect of us? How could we honor the love that was his message?
I believe that caring for God's creation and caring for my fellow human beings and caring for my children are in the end the same. If you share this belief or just fear the consequences of continuing to pump greenhouse gases into our atmosphere, I encourage you to call our elected officials. Let them know that you want bipartisan action on climate change for you and your children--perhaps you will like the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. Learn more at www.energyinnovationact.org And have a merry Christmas and a happy holiday season.
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Mark Mulkerin of Roland is a concerned father of three.
Editorial on 12/14/2018