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Yes, this January was colder than normal. Yes, it was the coldest in possibly 10 years. But, don’t let that weather fool you. The trend is for warmer winters, not colder ones.

For the last seven years I have kept track of the average Twin Cities temperature as recorded by the National Weather Service. Averaging out the 84 months, we are 1.63 degrees above normal on the Fahrenheit scale. Only 2019, in the last eight years, was below normal for average temperature. 1.63 degrees above normal is 60% of the way to the 2.7 degrees of global warming that climate scientists say is a goal to stay below by the year 2052. What will the next 30 years bring if we don’t change our behavior? I am worried.

We can make the changes needed. Many economists and scientists tell us that pricing carbon is the most effective way of reducing carbon emissions quickly. If it is paired with carbon cash back, it will protect the most vulnerable, too, those in those lowest 40% of income earners. There is such a bill in Congress right now. It is the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act.

Elements of carbon pricing/carbon cashback are also being negotiated in the Build Back Better budget reconciliation process. There is still time to influence the U.S Senate and our senators, Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith. There is still time to contact the White House.

We need all of us to contact Congress and let them know that there is political will to address the climate crisis. They will enact legislation IF we show them our support by our emails, letters and phone calls. Please make yours today. Let’s get Rep. Hagedorn on board with carbon pricing. To get even more active, join Citizens’ Climate Lobby at cclusa.org.

I will continue to record the data I can obtain from the National Weather Service. We need more years that have 2019’s temperature, but that may be too much to hope for, especially if we don’t take action.

Howard White

Chapter Leader

Citizens’

Climate Lobby