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Editor: 

Now more than ever it is critically important to address our energy and climate problems. There can be no better way to honor the dead and injured of 9/11 than to act to reduce what is arguably the biggest driving force behind our foreign relations policies that have led so much of the world to hate us: our addiction to oil. 

It is a multiple win. We can reduce global tensions at the same time that we improve our economy and save ourselves from far greater death tolls from pollution and climate change simply by taking aggressive action to improve our energy efficiency and increase our use of renewable energy sources. 

Let’s make sure that energy and climate change issues are not pushed aside in the war against terrorism. Instead they should be an important part of our response. This is something we can act on independently as a nation – with actions like increased fuel efficiency and appliance standards, renewable energy portfolio standards and incentive programs – and internationally with the rest of the world – by rejoining the Kyoto process to make global climate change agreements that will work.  

Urge your congressional representatives to get the clean sustainable energy agenda back on track in Congress and the President to rejoin the world community on climate change. Let us do it in the honor of those who died on 9/11 and those whose lives are daily threatened both by oil politic related violence and by the environmentally damaging effects of our energy use. 

Tom Lent 

Berkeley