Editorial: Listen to the kids on climate change

We all want the best for our kids.

We try and feed them the healthiest food. We guide them to make good choices. We strive to get them into the best schools (some are even willing to illegally pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for the best education.)

And when we die, we try to leave our kids something to help support them.

But the most important legacy that we can leave for our kids, a healthy planet, is not being pursued with nearly enough urgency. Now, our kids are letting us know that we are failing them.

Last week, Petaluma students joined youth-led climate strikes that took place in more than 100 countries, drawing attention to the inaction, by adults, that has caused the current climate crisis. It is inspiring to see kids taking a leading role in this fight since it will be their planet that they inherit.

There is no doubt that burning fossil fuels has caused the overall temperature of the earth to rise, and that if this keeps up, there will be catastrophic results for all living things on the planet, including our kids. That fact alone should be enough to mobilize us into the biggest effort humanity has ever seen. Instead, there seems to be a collective shoulder shrug, as the kids continue to march to get the adults to pay attention.

It’s not that the solution is beyond our grasp. We know what we need to do - burn less fossil fuel and release less carbon into the atmosphere. But, like a smoker developing emphysema, it’s hard to quit.

We need to rethink our transportation network, our electric grid and our food system. Government, which uses incentives and regulations to favor certain industries, can create the conditions for green industries to thrive. As fossil fuel-based industries start to die off, workers can be trained to do all of the new green jobs that will be created.

The framework for this plan has been discussed for at least a decade and was recently introduced in the House as the Green New Deal, which could be the massive investment needed to spur a change in thinking. The legislation is co-authored by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), one of the youngest members of Congress.

To emphasize the generational gap on the issue, California’s Democratic Senator, Dianne Feinstein, one of the oldest members of Congress, was recently seen on camera lecturing a group of school children that the cost of the Green New Deal is too high. True, the costs are estimated in the trillions of dollars, but it should be seen as an economic stimulus that will boost growth in green sectors of the economy.

Also, trillions of dollars may just be the cost of saving our planet. Doing nothing, while cheap, could mean not having a habitable planet.

We would do anything for our kids. We may soon have to mobilize a multi-trillion dollar effort to ensure their future survival.

Kids can’t vote, and they don’t pay taxes. But they can speak up, and we should listen.