I can’t be the only person who found the timing of Rick Whitbeck’s letter to the editor published on July 4 to be ludicrous and ironic. Mr. Whitbeck is yelling for the new administration to throw out the Anchorage Climate Action Plan in the same week that the west coast of North America saw record high temperatures; wildfires so intense they are creating rare pyrocumulous clouds and record lightning storms; fires that have already claimed hundreds of thousands of acres just this year alone and turned the town of Lytton, British Columbia, to ash.
He claimed that the Climate Action Plan, which has been years in the making by dedicated and knowledgeable staff, is “rushed” — not true — and received little community input — a bold lie. This, in the very same week that a ruptured gas pipeline set the Gulf of Mexico on fire.He then went on to claim that the Anchorage Climate Action Plan runs counter to priorities of most of Alaska. Another bizarre claim, considering less than half of Alaska lives in Anchorage, and of eligible-aged voters in Anchorage, only 19.4% of those voted for the new administration, and 18.9% did not. More notably, 61.7% of eligible Anchorage voters didn’t vote — so it’s unlikely that Mr. Whitbeck has any idea what they think of the Anchorage Climate Action Plan.
The Providence health care system, Anchorage’s second largest employer, has mandated that the entire system be carbon-negative by 2030. That’s a pretty significant economic force in Anchorage that is boldly shifting away from cheap and convenient fossil-fuel energy.
Cheap energy may still be convenient, but that convenience is coming at an alarming and deadly cost. My recommendation is that we throw Mr. Whitbeck’s outdated views in the trash, and continue to focus on taking steps to create a bright, healthy and viable future. I know at least a few kids who will thank us.
— Caroline Storm
Anchorage
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