Roger Heath
The most important thing you can do to fight the negative impact of climate change is to talk about it. You’ve heard senators, congressmen and the presidential candidates talk up a storm about climate caused problems and solutions, right? WRONG!
You haven’t because we aren’t talking about climate change enough and getting the discussion into the mainstream of being a top issue. Talking about climate is an action everyone can do to make a difference. And it’s important our lawmakers hear from their constituents to focus Congress on fixing the problem.
2023 was the hottest global temperature on record, and 2024 is likely to beat it leading to other negative impacts, like more extreme droughts and catastrophic forest fires in our nearby mountains that put our families and property in danger.
So, we need to talk about climate change and the severe results more. I remember a climate conversation that actually helped me get active as a volunteer with a national conservation group.
During a bicycle ride with friends about three years ago I asked if they had read a letter to the editor in our local newspaper expressing the human-caused changes to the climate. After exchanging views of the problem, I decided to become involved by joining a major conservation group working to slow or stop climate change.
Since then, I’ve had many interesting conversations about climate change with people in the Reno-Carson City area. Here’s a bit of what I’ve heard:
• People say they are worried about climate change and are asking what they can do about it or are searching for ways to do something about it.
• A friend with a vacation home in the nearby Sierra Nevada said their home insurance had been canceled due to the recent drought and climate related fires and found it very costly to get new insurance.
• People say they’ve never had snowfall/wind like this in the 50 years since they’ve lived here and are seeing the connection to climate change.
• A local hiker was discouraged when the group he was hiking with all agreed something needed to be done to control human-caused climate change, but no one knew what to do.
• Many people expressing relief after the recent heavy snowstorm that “At least we may not have to worry about lack of water this summer.”
Conversations like these need to be shared with our legislators. Unless they know we want action on climate, they won’t take any. We need them to address the climate caused problems, so contact U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei, U.S. Sens. Jacky Rosen and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and let them hear your concerns affecting you and your community.
People from all walks of life and all political stripes are concerned about climate change-caused problems and want to see it fixed as soon as possible. If you’re like me and are worried about how climate caused events will impact our lives and those of the generations to come, don’t stop at contacting your legislators.
Talk to your neighbors, accountant, dentist, mechanic, state and local politicians and everyone you engage with daily. Start by just asking them if they have been affected by climate-driven events. And consider joining a conservation group that works getting the message out that we need to prevent the severe events that climate change is driving.
A conservation group can multiply your efforts by the magnitude of their members and give you tools to talk to many more people. So, let’s start talking, and remember TALKING ABOUT CLIMATE-CAUSED PROBLEMS IS ACTION!
Roger Heath is a retired mechanical engineer living in Carson City.