Carbon Plan: A Time To Decide

resident Obama’s proposal to tackle climate change bycutting carbon emissions from power plants by a total of30 percent by 2030 is already unleashing a torrent of de-bate that will not subside anytime soon. And that’s agood thing.

That’s because, if nothing else, it forces us — as individuals,not just as a nation — to confront the issue of climate change onmoral terms.

Monday’s proposal is probably the boldest gesture this admin-istration has made on the climate change issue. It sets nationallimits on the man-made generation of carbon dioxide, one of thelargest sources of greenhouse gases that are a chief culprit in cli-mate change. It’s also designed to prod other nations into doingmore with this pressing global issue. And on Tuesday, The Associ-ated Press reported that China may follow suit in accepting “bind-ing goals to cut greenhouse gases.” The move would also allowthe U.S. to catch up with the European Union’s efforts to combatclimate change.

Obama’s plan proposes a 30 percent cut from the 2005 levels,which is an important threshold to bear in mind. Efforts to cleanup emissions have been under way since then, and carbon dioxideemissions have already been cut by nearly 13 percent the last nineyears. But, like losing weight on a diet, the closer one gets to thegoal, the harder the process becomes. And finding the next 17 per-cent is not going to be easy or painless.

The backlash to the proposal actually started before it waseven made. Last week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce predictedthe new rules — whatever they were to be, since the details hadyet to be announced — would prevent the creation of 200,000 jobsfor the economy. And to be sure, the cost of electricity that is gen-erated by coal-burning plants — which currently includes a lot ofus — may climb, perhaps significantly, as a result.

On the other hand, The Associated Press noted that states likeColorado and California, which tap into a lot of alternative energysources such as solar and wind, will be the least impacted by theproposal — and, thus, probably in a better position to capitalizeon the matter.

We don’t know how this will play out, other than it won’t get towherever it’s going quickly or easily. There will be a lot of grand-standing on both sides — there has been for a long time — andthis step will certainly attract more of that commotion.

But if we oppose this measure to combat climate change onthe grounds that it would cost too much or it would change ourlifestyle — which are comments being encountered already — it’sfair to ask what the alternative is.

That question needs to be asked by each of us. If there are bet-ter, more reasonable alternatives — not counting the prospect ofmerely dismissing the facts of our changing climate with the as-sumption or hope that the matter isn’t real — we need to findthem and understand them. We need to start moving toward a so-lution yesterday; we need to catch up now.

kmh

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OPINION

Carbon Plan: ATime To Decide

I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it isnot in man who walks to direct his steps. Jeremiah 10:23. Portals ofPrayer, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis

F RO M T H E B I B L E

By The Associated PressToday is Wednesday, June 4, the

155th day of 2014. There are 210 daysleft in the year.

Today’s Highlights in History: OnJune 4, 1944, during World War II, U-505, a German submarine, was cap-tured by a U.S. Navy task group in thesouth Atlantic; it was the first suchcapture of an enemy vessel at sea bythe U.S. Navy since the War of 1812.The U.S. Fifth Army began liberatingRome.

On this date: In 1783, the Mont-golfier brothers first publicly demon-strated their hot-air balloon, which didnot carry any passengers, over An-nonay, France.

In 1784, opera singer ElisabethThible became the first woman tomake a nontethered flight aboard aMontgolfier hot-air balloon, over Lyon,France.

In 1892, the Sierra Club was in-corporated in San Francisco.

In 1919, Congress approved the19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitu-tion, guaranteeing citizens the right tovote regardless of their gender andsent it to the states for ratification.

In 1939, the German ocean linerMS St. Louis, carrying more than 900Jewish refugees from Germany, wasturned away from the Florida coast byU.S. officials.

In 1940, during World War II, theAllied military evacuation of more than338,000 troops from Dunkirk, France,ended.

In 1942, the World War II Battle ofMidway began, resulting in a decisiveAmerican victory against Japan andmarking the turning point of the war inthe Pacific.

In 1954, French Premier JosephLaniel and Vietnamese Premier BuuLoc signed treaties in Paris according“complete independence” to Vietnam.

In 1972, a jury in San Jose, Cali-fornia, acquitted radical activist An-gela Davis of murder and kidnappingfor her alleged connection to a deadlycourthouse shootout in Marin Countyin 1970.

In 1986, Jonathan Jay Pollard, aformer Navy intelligence analyst,pleaded guilty in Washington to con-spiring to deliver information related tothe national defense to a foreign gov-ernment, specifically Israel. (He isserving a life prison term.)

In 1989, a gas explosion in the So-viet Union engulfed two passingtrains, killing 575.

In 1998, a federal judge sen-tenced Terry Nichols to life in prisonfor his role in the 1995 bombing of theAlfred P. Murrah Federal Building inOklahoma City.

Ten years ago: A powerful bombblast ripped through a crowded out-door market in central Russia, killingat least 11 people. President GeorgeW. Bush nominated former MissouriSen. John Danforth to be America’sambassador to the United Nations.

Muffler shop owner Marvin Heemeyer,angry after losing a zoning dispute,went on a rampage in Granby, Col-orado, using a customized armor-plated bulldozer to knock down ordamage nine buildings before shoot-ing himself to death.

Five years ago: Speaking atCairo University, President BarackObama called for a “new beginningbetween the United States and Mus-lims” and said together, they couldconfront violent extremism across theglobe. Actor David Carradine, 72, wasfound dead in a Bangkok, Thailand,hotel room.

One year ago: Already heavilycriticized for targeting conservativegroups, the Internal Revenue Servicesuffered another blow as new detailsemerged in a report about senior offi-cials enjoying luxury hotel rooms, freedrinks and food at a $4.1 million train-ing conference. Ohio State UniversityPresident Gordon Gee announced hisretirement after he came under fire forjoking about “those damn Catholics”at Notre Dame and poking fun at theacademic quality of other schools.France said it had confirmed thatnerve gas was used “multiple times ina localized way” in Syria. Joey Coving-ton, 67, a former Jefferson Airplanedrummer who co-wrote several of thegroup’s songs, died in a car crash inPalm Springs, California.

Today’s Birthdays: Sex therapistand media personality Dr. Ruth West-heimer is 86. Actor Bruce Dern is 78.Musician Roger Ball is 70. Actress-singer Michelle Phillips is 70. Jazz mu-sician Anthony Braxton is 69. Rockmusician Danny Brown (The Fixx) is63. Actor Parker Stevenson is 62.Actor Keith David is 58. Blues singer-musician Tinsley Ellis is 57. ActressJulie Gholson is 56. Actor Eddie Velezis 56. Singer-musician El DeBarge is53. Actress Julie White is 53. ActressLindsay Frost is 52. Tennis player An-drea Jaeger is 49. Opera singer Ce-cilia Bartoli is 48. Rhythm-and-bluessinger Al B. Sure! is 46. Actor ScottWolf is 46. Actor-comedian RobHuebel is 45. Comedian Horatio Sanzis 45. Actor Noah Wyle is 43. Rockmusician Stefan Lessard (The DaveMatthews Band) is 40. Actor-come-dian Russell Brand is 39. Actress An-gelina Jolie is 39. Actor Theo Rossi is39. Alt-country singer Kasey Cham-bers is 38. Rock musician JoJo Garza(Los Lonely Boys) is 34. Country mu-sician Dean Berner (Edens Edge) is33. Model Bar Refaeli is 29. Olympicgold medal figure skater EvanLysacek is 29. Rock musician ZacFarro is 24.

Thought for Today: “As peopleused to be wrong about the motion ofthe sun, so they are still wrong aboutthe motion of the future. The futurestands still; it is we who move in infi-nite space.” — Rainer Maria Rilke,German poet (1875-1926).

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YO U R L E T T E R S

BY ROBERT B. REICHTribune Content Agency

I spent several days in New York last weekwith students from around the country whowere preparing to head into the heartland tohelp organize Walmart workers forbetter jobs and wages. (Full familialdisclosure: My son Adam is one ofthe leaders.)

Almost exactly 50 years ago, asimilar group headed to Mississippito register African-Americans tovote, in what came to be known asFreedom Summer.

Call this Freedom Summer II. The current struggle of low-wage

workers across America echoes thecivil rights struggle of the 1960s.

Today, as then, a group of Ameri-cans is denied the dignity of decentwages and working conditions.Today, just as then, powerful forces are threat-ening and intimidating vulnerable people forexercising their legal rights. Today, just like 50years ago, people who have been treated asvoiceless and disposable are standing up anddemanding change.

Although Walmart is no Bull Connor, it’sthe poster child for keeping low-wage workersdown. America’s largest employer, with about1.4 million workers, refuses to provide most ofthem with an income they can live on. Thevast majority earns under $25,000 a year, withan average hourly wage of about $8.80.

You and I and other taxpayers shell out forthese workers’ Medicaid and food stamps be-cause they and their families can’t stay afloaton what Walmart pays. (I’ve often thought Wal-mart and other big employers should have topay a tax equal to the public assistance theirworkers receive because the companies don’tpay them enough to stay out of poverty.)

Walmart won’t even allow workers to or-ganize for better jobs and wages. In January,the National Labor Relations Board issued acomplaint accusing it of unlawfully threaten-ing or retaliating against workers who havetaken part in strikes and protests.

The firm says it can’t afford to give its work-ers a raise or better hours and working condi-tions. Baloney. Walmart is America’s biggestretailer. Its policies are pulling every othermajor retailer into the same race to the bottom.If Walmart halted the race, the race would stop.

Don’t worry about its investors. Its largest isthe Walton family, whose combined wealth isgreater than the combined wealth of the bot-tom 42 percent of the entire American popula-tion.

This week, Walmart employees will go onstrike in dozens of cities. A group of “WalmartMoms” is also marching for better hours andbetter treatment of pregnant employees. Andan employee group has sent a letter and vot-ing guide to shareholders asking that they

vote against Rob Walton’s re-electionas chair.

Walmart isn’t the only place wherelow-wage workers are on the move.Two weeks ago, 2,000 protesters gath-ered at McDonald’s corporate head-quarters in suburban Chicago todemand a hike in the minimum wageand the right to form a union withoutretaliation. More than 100 were ar-rested.

Giant fast-food companies havethe largest gap between the pay ofCEOs and workers of any industry,with a CEO-to-worker compensationratio of more than 1,000-to-one.

Meanwhile, across America, low-wageworkers are demanding -- and in many casesgetting -- increases in the minimum wage. De-spite Washington’s gridlock, seven states haveraised their own minimums so far this year. Anumber of cities have also voted in minimum-wage increases. On Monday, Seattle’s citycouncil approved a minimum wage hike to $15an hour, the highest in the nation, to take ef-fect over the next few years.

The movement of low-wage workers for de-cent pay and working conditions is partly a re-flection of America’s emerging low-wageeconomy. While low-wage industries such asretail and restaurant accounted for 22 percentof the jobs lost in the Great Recession, they’vegenerated 44 percent of the jobs added sincethen, according to a recent report from the Na-tional Employment Law Project.

But the movement is also a moral strugglefor decency and respect, and full participationin our economy and society. In these ways, it’sthe civil rights struggle of our time.

It took guts to take on the power structureof Mississippi a half-century ago. It takes gutsto take on the power structure of giant compa-nies like Walmart and McDonalds now.

But confronting such powerful bastions is avital step toward fundamental social change.Freedom Summer II is just the start.

Robert Reich is Chancellor’s Professor ofPublic Policy at the University of California atBerkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Centerfor Developing Economies. His new film, “In-equality for All,” is now out on iTunes, DVDand On Demand.

Freedom Summer II

Robert

REICH

EMS GratitudeDaniel Prendable, YanktonEMT Basic, Yankton County EMS

Each year, EMTs across the United Statesuse EMS Week to sponsor awareness events tokeep communities safe and healthy. EMS Weekthis year was May 18-24. Yankton County EMSheld its second annual Water Safety Day eventto celebrate Emergency Medical Services forChildren Day on Wednesday, May 21.

The purpose of this event was to educateyouth and families on the importance of watersafety and provide free life jackets to youthage 0-17. We’re proud to say the event was asuccess! Yankton County EMS gave out 177 lifejackets, which is a huge leap from the 61 lifejackets given away last year. We certainly can’ttake all the credit, so we’d like to say “thankyou” to those who helped us.

Thank You to the National Park Service-MNRR, U.S. Coast Guard, Army Corps of Engi-neers, S.D. Canoe and Kayak Association andYankton County Search & Rescue for having ed-ucational booths so young people could learnabout water safety and play some fun games.Thank You also to the National Park Service-MNRR, Yankton County, Lesterville Fire Depart-ment, Yankton Area EMS Association andYankton County Search & Rescue for donatingmoney and life jackets to support this cause.

Finally, thank you to the families and youngpeople who attended our event. We appreciateyour enthusiasm and willingness to learnabout water safety, and we hope you put thatinformation to good use this summer.

Yankton County EMS is a committed teamof Paramedics and EMTs who proudly servethe residents and visitors of Yankton County.Anyone with questions about this event or anyother public service we offer, please call ouroffice at 605-668-9033. Thank you, Yankton,and have a safe summer!

Plaza ProposalRandy Gleich, Yankton

Concerning my letter “Count on It” (Press& Dakotan, May 5) — hypothetically it is im-possible to estimate traffic counts (for thebridge or plaza) like the roads where theyhave that rubber counter hose over the road.But I will give you a successful working exam-ple where modifying the existing plaza plan:It’s called “Alive after Five” in Boise, Idaho,where thousands congregate and listen to livemusic and enjoy cool beverages, vendorbooths and delicious food each week. This ex-ample could easily be duplicated on the plaza.

Of course we are not as big as Boise, but itis a successful working model that could bereplicated right here in Yankton.

SOUTH DAKOTASEN. TIM JOHNSON: 136 Hart Senate Office

Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; WashingtonPhone: (202) 224-5842; Sioux Falls Phone: (605) 332-8896; email: http://johnson.senate.gov/emailform.html

SEN. JOHN THUNE: United States Senate SR-493, Washington, D.C. 20510; Washington Phone:(866) 850-3855; Sioux Falls Phone: (605) 334-9596;Fax: (202) 228-3855; Web: thune.senate.gov.

REP. KRISTI NOEM: 226 Cannon House OfficeBuilding, Washington, D.C. 20515; Washington Phone:(202) 225-2801; Sioux Falls Phone: (605) 367-8371;Fax: (202) 225-5823; email: visithttps://noem.house.gov

NEBRASKASEN. DEB FISCHER: 825 Hart Senate Office

Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; WashingtonPhone: (202) 224-6551; email: N/A

SEN. MIKE JOHANNS: 1 Russell Courtyard,Washington, D.C. 20510; Washington Phone: (202)224-4224; email: log on athttp://johanns.senate.gov/public/?p=EmailSenatorJo-hanns

REP. JEFF FORTENBERRY: 1517 LongworthHouse, Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515;Washington Phone: (202) 225-4806; District Phone:(402) 438-1598; email: log on atwww.house.gov/writerep/

REP. ADRIAN SMITH: 503 Cannon House Of-fice Building, Washington, D.C. 20515-2703; Wash-ington Phone: (202) 225-6435; Fax: (202) 225-0207;District Phone: (308) 633-6333; email: log on atwww.house.gov/writerep/

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