An Appeal to Montana’s Candidates and Voters

By Jim Edwards and Max Scheder-Bieschin

If you saw your neighbor’s house on fire, you would call 911, right? And, if it were your house, you would want your neighbors to do the same, right?

If your neighbor was attacked and robbed, you would defend their right to self-defense, right? Similarly, if another country invaded ours, you would want other countries to help us.

Our common house - planet Earth - is under attack. We have an overheating climate, caused primarily by the pollution of our atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels.

In Montana, we all see the impacts of climate-driven wildfires, the warming and drying-up of rivers and streams, and the carbon-polluted air. We choke on the wildfire smoke in summer when we should be able to enjoy the outdoors without worries about health risks or having our tourism industry threatened. Our ranchers, probably the best stewards of land in the world, face droughts affecting their ability to graze their herds or gather hay for winter feeding.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

We can put out the fires, help our neighbors, defend our country, help other nations under attack and stabilize our climate. To do this, we need to elect people who are willing to work on finding bipartisan solutions to real problems, and who will use the power of Congress to represent all of us, including enacting effective climate legislation.

It’s common sense that we want our children and our grandkids to have clean, breathable air; our rivers and streams to flow at levels where the risk of running dry is minimized; our ranchers to be able to rely on traditional sources of hay for winter feeding versus being forced to ship cattle out or import hay; for our businesses to be protected, and our hardworking neighbors to have more cash in their pockets.

So, to those of you who are running for office, to help us decide how we vote:

1. What will be the first steps you take to protect the environment and work to stabilize our climate?

2. What steps will you take to support the growth of the clean-energy industry and create clean energy jobs?

3. How will you ensure all communities receive equitable access to clean air and water and an equitable response to climate disasters such as wildfires or severe storms?

4. If your campaign accepts contributions from fossil-fuel corporations or executives, will you commit to open-minded access to your “back home” constituents who believe transitioning away from fossil fuels in a smart, thoughtful way is both important and doable?

Economists agree that a price on carbon is the most efficient and effective way to both reduce our carbon emissions and ensure we all can transition to a clean-energy economy. Taking the revenue from that carbon pricing and returning it to all taxpayers equally will not grow the government. It will drive the change to stave off pollution and will enable the significant majority of the population to earn income from the energy transition.

Will you support a price on carbon and dividend cashback? Just ask Citizens’ Climate Lobby how to implement this!

It is well past the time for our elected representatives to step up to the plate and, at a minimum, start getting us some base hits on climate change. A home run is possible.

The fire alarm bells are ringing. Let’s do some smart things before the house is on fire.

Vote this November and when you vote, please keep the climate top of mind. United, we can stabilize our climate and preserve the last best place.

Jim and Max volunteer with Citizens’ Climate Lobby, a national nonpartisan organization with 3000 volunteers in Montana (cclusa.org).

NOTE - Letters to the Editor are accepted and run at the discretion of the editor. That are solely the opinion of the author.