Use childhood lessons as start to find solutions to climate change

Remember when you and your sibling were playing catch in the living room and broke your mother's flower vase? You both learned a lot of lessons that day.

You learned that both of you had to work on fixing the problem.

You learned to clean up the mess — the proper way to pick up broken pottery and soak up water.

You learned some solutions don't work. A glued vase does not hold water.

You learned the value of money. You had to do extra chores around the house and neighborhood to earn money to buy a new vase.

You learned that you need to stop making the mess to begin with, so a new rule would prevent this from happening again. No more playing catch in the house.

You learned that parents and babysitters had the power to enforce the new rule.

All these childhood lessons apply today for positive and effective solutions to climate change.

We need to work together for solutions to clean up the carbon mess in our air and the resulting damage to our water, corals, land and homes. Some solutions don't work — like constructing a carbon pipeline that creates more carbon but also endangers our land and water. Solutions cost money. We need new rules to reduce carbon emissions and reduce our carbon footprint. We need to give DNR more money, personnel, and authority to monitor and enforce these rules.

Charlene Lange

Iowa City