My son just turned one. As I watch him take his first steps and say his first words, I worry about the drowning world we’re handing to him. Here in Maryland, the consequences of climate change are no longer abstract. They’re visible in every tide line and storm surge, in every flooded road and acre of salt-ruined farmland.
In Talbot and Dorchester counties, roads now flood on sunny days. Saltwater is creeping into fields that once grew soybeans and corn, ruining farmland that’s been in families for generations. We are watching our land slip away–not decades from now, but today.
That’s why I was furious to see Governor Moore veto the RENEW Act–a bill that would have measured the cost of climate change to Marylanders and begun holding fossil fuel giants financially responsible for the damage they knowingly caused. It was a first step toward making polluters, not local families, pay for Maryland’s recovery and resilience.
Governor Moore called it "burdensome." But burdensome for whom? The polluters who won’t pay a dime, while local governments and taxpayers like us are left scrambling to fund shoreline reinforcement, flood repairs, and emergency response? Why are we paying for their profits with our wallets, our safety, and our kids’ futures? I understand Governor Moore's concerns for our state's financial situation, but this bill would be the first step toward generating, quite literally, billions of dollars from fossil fuel giants for Maryland’s recovery and resilience. How is that "burdensome?"
We know what’s happening. We’ve seen the tide rise and the storms worsen. And our children will inherit whatever we don’t fix. Tackling climate change can feel overwhelming, but we have real solutions–the RENEW Act was one of them. Our voices matter, and together, we must demand that our elected officials put those solutions to work and override this veto. We deserve leaders who work for people, not polluters, and who won’t make Maryland taxpayers pay for a crisis they didn’t create.
My son deserves a livable climate. Your grandchildren do, too.
Patricia Sazama
Dayton, Md. Resident
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
