At the start of this year’s legislative session, lawmakers in Boston filed more than a dozen bills relating to global warming. The same is true in Washington, D.C.

After more than a decade of denials and delays, it appears policymakers are starting to get serious about tackling this problem.

Unfortunately, they haven’t left us much time. If we hope to avoid the worst impacts of global warming, we’re going to have to act soon. And we’re going to have to get it right the first time.

Emissions in Massachusetts and across the country are projected to rise significantly in coming years. That’s the exact opposite of the pollution reductions we need to avoid the strongest storms, the worst heat waves, and the greatest sea level rise.

It’s likely that, to adequately protect ourselves and our environment, we will need to cut U.S. pollution levels by about 80 percent by the middle of this century. And to get on that trajectory at any reasonable cost (and hopefully avoid any severe “tipping point” trigger), we’re going to have to start turning the emissions trend line down in the next several years. That’s going to take a lot of work.

For too long, we’ve been mired in inaction, in large part due to the obstructionism of the Bush administration and their allies in Congress.

But these days, there’s a groundswell of support for action on global warming.

A few highlights:
• Gov. Deval Patrick, as one of his first official acts, announced that Massachusetts would rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to cut global warming pollution from power plants.

•Massachusetts won a landmark Supreme Court case against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in which the Court agreed with the state that EPA had no valid justification for its failure to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant. The case has been described as the most significant environmental case ever heard by the Court.

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi created a special committee to tackle global warming and energy independence, headed by our own congressman Ed Markey (Malden).

Research and results
In part as a result of all this activity, there are now dozens of proposals at the state and federal levels to cut global warming pollution. And, as we found in our recent report, “Rising To The Challenge,” solutions are available today to get us on the right track. If we use the tools in our toolbox now, we can get nearly 20 percent reductions by 2020.

The challenge, of course, is to keep our eyes on the prize. Many of the bills that have been filed are, at best, half-measures. Anything less than science-based policies that will cut pollution sufficient to avoid the worst impacts, and we’re choosing to gamble with our future.

Of course, that’s where you come in. It’s your action and your support that will embolden our leaders to get it right. It’s your involvement that changes the odds.

We look forward to winning strong, climate- safe limits on global warming pollution— first, here in Massachusetts, where we ought to be leading the way, and soon in Washington, D.C. We at Environment Massachusetts, with your support, will be here to make sure that our leaders make the right choices.

Sincerely,
Frank J. Gorke