Climate changes are hurting environment, quality of life

newsleder.com , Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Correspondent :
Waynesboro is still trying to recover from one of the most severe winters on record. I have a six-foot high mound of snow at the end of our street that seems intent on spending the summer with us. This historic snowfall follows five years of unusually low rain. These conditions are having negative impacts on our forests, streams and rivers. These effects will only get worse unless we do something to address the impacts of a rapidly changing climate. Reducing the impacts of climate change isn't just vital to

preserving our way of life here in Virginia for our children and our grandchildren, it also makes economic sense.

In 2006, more that 3.6 million people spent more than $1.4 billion on hunting, fishing and wildlife viewing in Virginia. This industry also supports50,000 jobs in our state. But, of course, it's not just dollars and cents. As a nation, we have a moral and ethical responsibility to conserve fish, wildlife and their habitats. How we respond to the effects of climate change will determine the conditions of the environment we pass to our children. I consider it my duty to my daughter and future generations to protect and restore wildlife and wild places prior generations left in our stewardship.

Senators Warner and Webb will have a chance to do something about climate change in the coming weeks when the Senate begins consideration of a bipartisan bill to be offered by Republican Lindsey Graham, Democrat John Kerry and independent Joe Lieberman. This bill will reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions, diminish our dangerous dependenceon foreign oil and create millions of high-paying clean-energy jobs. What the bill should also do is create American jobs on American lands and revitalize our rural economies by restoring wildlife habitat.

I am tired of partisan politics and Washingtongridlock. Clean energy legislation is an opportunity to break the logjam. Now is the time for Warner and Webb to show Washington can deliver for people here in Virginia.

 
SOURCE : http://www.newsleader.com/article/20100314/OPINION03/3140333
 


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