To the Editor:

When spring arrived in Princeton this year, we all had to do without the annual display of blossoms on the Bradford/Callery pear trees along Witherspoon Street. They had been removed for good reasons, such as being an invasive and superannuated monoculture. Nevertheless, many people expressed regret at the loss of a natural feature that had been part of our streetscape for decades.

Fortunately, our town will soon have replacement trees of appropriate species gracing Witherspoon Street. But we will still remember how the center of Princeton felt without its longtime leafy denizens. The many benefits that street trees bring to communities are well known; for instance, a bill introduced by our NJ12 Congressional Representative, Bonnie Watson Coleman — the SHADE Act [H.R .4166, with 55 co-sponsors — would support planting trees in low-income and/or minority communities throughout the country.

Among the invisible gifts of trees is that they absorb carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases generated by fossil fuels that contribute to climate change. This month, we observe the 52nd anniversary of Earth Day, following the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The report is long and thoroughly researched, but to summarize: It is time to redouble our efforts to stabilize the climate by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Governmental-scale action is needed, and President Biden and Congress should be urged to meet the president’s goal of reducing climate-harming emissions by 50 percent over 2005 levels by 2030.

If you’d like to add your voice to this call for top-level action on climate change, here’s a swift and simple way provided by the nonpartisan nonprofit Citizens’ Climate Lobby at cclusa.org/action. This site makes it easy for you to email your elected federal representatives. It walks you through the process, which takes 5-10 minutes at most. As a bonus: this campaign is called “Stand With Ukraine,” because transitioning to clean energy de-funds bad actors whose economies rely on exporting fossil fuels. What a lot to accomplish in one short step — please do this today!

Caroline “Callie” Hancock
Laurel Road

The writer is a volunteer with Citizens’ Climate Lobby as the New Jersey state coordinator and group leader of the Princeton Chapter.