Re: “Jay Inslee, Washington lawmakers propose electric vehicle rebates and other climate initiatives ahead of legislative session” [Dec. 13, Local News]:
I support Gov. Jay Inslee’s push for solar for public buildings and electric-car rebates. I learned about basic solar heating in college in the early 1970s. Municipalities could have required passive solar principles in building codes, like orienting windows to the south, for 50 years. Inexplicably, this is still not being done.
Cities should solve more problems by incentivizing decentralized solutions, like rooftop home solar and backyard cottages that provide housing.
State Rep. Mary Dye complains that Inslee’s initiatives won’t mitigate fires and drought. Yet Inslee proposes precisely the actions that are essential to curbing those and other effects of global warming. Only being willing to pay for mitigation is akin to continuing to dump trash in your backyard but only being willing to pay for deodorant to spray on it when it inevitably stinks.
It’s high time to do what Inslee suggests. Seattle should get with it as well. We had the technology to do much of this 50 years ago. If we had, maybe we wouldn’t have had the fires and drought in the first place.
Linda Anderson, Seattle