Earth Day is certainly a day to celebrate the miracle of the Earth and its ability to sustain the only known life (so far) in the universe.

Mother Earth gives us the air we breathe, water we drink, soils that provide us with food, and a climate that heretofore has been neither too hot nor too cold. This, of course, is changing due to climate change.

For Earth Day 2o24, Santa Barbara celebrated with a festival in Alameda Park that engaged in climate-focused education activities; talked about a plastic-free future, had green car test drives; and educated attendees on climate rebates and incentives.

These were all important and appropriate things to do.

However, what the festival did not do is focus on the devastating threat Santa Barbara and the world are facing from global warming; the need to eliminate fossil fuel emissions from our atmosphere; and the reality that only political activity can solve this problem.

All the focus in the world on promoting electric vehicles; the importance of riding bicycles as opposed to taking your car; advocating for sustainable agriculture; electrifying homes; putting solar panels on your home; and removing plastics from the environment will not stop climate change.

What will stop global warming is political action to end fossil fuel emissions into our overheating environment, and replace them with renewable energy.

On Nov. 5, Santa Barbarans will have a political choice to make between Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, and Republican challenger Thomas Cole.

Carbajal should be returned to Congress to continue his needed work on climate change. He is an author of the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act that would decrease carbon emissions by setting a carbon fee and returning dividends to American citizens.

In doing this, he correctly said: “We do not have the luxury of time when it comes to getting carbon neutral. We need to give big corporations a real, unequivocal incentive to shrink their carbon footprints.” 

Cole, a conservative builder and developer, believes that CO₂ is 0.04% of our atmosphere, and whether that’s causing our climate to warm up has not been proven.

Scientifically, there is an overall upward trend in CO₂ into our atmosphere. Global monthly average concentrations of carbon dioxide have risen from around 337 parts per million in 1979 to 417 parts per million in 2022 — an increase of more than 20% in 44 years, accounting for 76% of total greenhouse gas emissions.

According to science, human activities such as burning oil, coal and gas, as well as deforestation are the primary causes of increased CO₂ in our atmosphere.

This kind of public education should have been part of Earth Day 2024. There are now 194 climate deniers in Congress. Mother Earth does not need another one.

This choice for Santa Barbarans is not academic. Santa Barbara is a coastal city. In addition to more heat, wildfires and atmospheric rains, at the Earth’s current rate of warming, the city will experience increased sea level rise flooding and erosion hazards along its shoreline.

Predictions for Santa Barbara sea level rise include landslides at Shoreline Park; more beach erosion at LeadbetterBeach; and Cabrillo Boulevard, Shoreline Drive, Cliff Drive and Highway 101 will be affected by storm flooding.

Beaches along the coastal bluffs will be lost from beach erosion.

The El Estero Water Resource Center will experience storm flooding, impacting wastewater and recycled water services. The Charles E. Meyer Desalination Plant will flood, impacting freshwater supplies for the city.

Blufftop housing will be threatened, along with neighborhoods on both the Lower East and West sides. The cumulative economic impacts to the city could be as much as $4.1 billion.

Clearly Earth Day is a day to celebrate the Earth. It has also become a day to learn about how to protect our environment, which includes voting for candidates who understand and are working on the climate threat.