Posted: Dec. 22, 2009 |(0) Comments

Public Forum:

I have been dismayed recently by the tone and substance of the environmental policy debate surrounding the lead-up to the Copenhagen conference. The air seems very hot.

Specifically, I am worried that the discussion over "bias" among both scientists and politicians will obscure the most fundamental issue in the debate: Current pollution levels are bad; more pollution is worse.

I haven't heard anyone in the mainstream on either side of the issue argue that humanity has no effect on our climate. Even our current Republican congressional representatives seem to believe that human actions have had some effect on the earth's overall climate.

With this in mind, why the emphasis on finger-pointing? Talking about global conspiracies or the possibility of "massive wealth transfer to the third world" does nothing to suggest alternate ways of decreasing our pollution output right now. I think most agree this would be a laudable and achievable goal.

Reasonable compromises can and should be made. If there is a legitimate concern over the environmental competitiveness of Wisconsin's utility companies, our politicians should propose a regulatory system that would give them a fair shake. An industry-specific cap and trade system might be a better proposal than either a global arrangement, or worse still, no regulation at all.

The choices are stark. We can either choose to muddle along with our current, nearly self-regulatory system, and watch emissions continue to grow, or we can make reasonable efforts to fairly regulate the growth of those emissions.

I personally do not believe this is a decision to be left up to the utilities and oil companies themselves, or the political influence they might have purchased. It should be left up to individuals who are sincerely willing to discuss the "maybe," rather than the "no."

Clean air is always better than hot air.

 

Todd Kolosso

candidate for Wisconsin's

5th Congressional District

Menomonee Falls