Climate

I am fortunate enough to have traveled across the country to see the beauty it has to offer. However, I also believe that something is happening to our planet that is not good. Whether you believe in global warming or not, you cannot ignore the smog ridden mornings of D.C., Houston and Los Angeles, the strip mined mountain tops of West Virginia and Northern Kentucky or the polluted bays and waterways of our very own Maryland.

If we want to leave the next generation with a place to live and love as much as we do, then we need to take action now.

REDUCE GREENHOUSE EMMISSIONS. We must find cleaner, more efficient means of transportation that are sustainable in today's environment. We must reduce the amount of carbon produced in the oil we use today and invest more in renewable fuels that are already on the market. We must increase research and development in this area to find more solutions, and find them quickly. We must safely expand wind energy and make solar energy affordable to the common person.

HOLD CORPORATE POLLUTERS ACCOUNTABLE. We need to ensure that facilities which produce toxic chemicals are held accountable to the standards set by law. We must make public the amount of pollution these facilities are generating on a minimum of a yearly basis. Fines should be increased to point where it is cheaper for the institution to implement newer technologies than it is to pay the fine.

HELP THE FARMERS. The biggest polluter of most waterways, including our beloved Chesapeake Bay, comes from agricultural runoff in the form of nitrogen. We must step up to the plate and help our farmers reduce this environmental threat and we must do it in a way that does not cause the farm irreparable harm.

INCREASE RECYCLING. We can do this now, without any legislative interference. Each and every one of us can, and should recycle. From a government perspective, we should reward states with aggressive, proven recycling programs by providing additional funding from the federal government. Creating recycling programs not only saves our environment it also creates jobs.

Each of us are here for a finite period of time. We need to take steps to minimize our impact on this planet so that future generations can enjoy it as well.