Jennifer Benson praised the Massachusetts Senate, which passed a climate change proposal to bring the state to net zero by 2050, for “sparking such a critical discussion.” (“Senate’s climate change proposal a good start,” Feb. 12)

However, it is high time for action, not talk, as we face a climate crisis. I applaud Benson’s call for bold actions based on thoughtful, strategic and comprehensive plans to achieve that goal.

Every step the Senate takes to address climate change is positive, but it needs to continue to build on previous successful steps. We know it can be done. We know how to do this. There is cause for hope, but also cause for more urgency.

The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2008 was passed with a lot of opposition and fears that it would ruin the economy and kill jobs. It has not.

“But the environmental organizations across the state came together, and citizens all across Massachusetts came together to call on their legislators not to back off, because the problem was too urgent,” Sen. Marc Pacheco said.

In 2016, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the state’s obligations to create and implement regulations to meet its carbon reduction mandates. Emissions rose in Massachusetts in 2009-2010 and in 2012-2013 because there were no regulations. The GWSA requires Massachusetts to reduce emissions to 25% below 1990 levels by 2020. We are not on target to meet this mandate with current policies.

There is a comprehensive, actionable plan ready to help: H2810, An Act to Promote Green Infrastructure and Reduce Carbon Emissions, a bill with environmental justice and green economy in its DNA. It puts a graduated fee on carbon (fossil fuels), returns 70% of money collected to residents, and keeps 30% for a Green Infrastructure Fund for climate mitigation and adaptation projects.

People in the low- and moderate-income households, and in rural areas, get higher rebates, and 40% of GIF monies is slated for low-income communities. It will spur innovations and efficiencies and grow green jobs, and make real renewable energy more competitive.

It will work with Gov. Baker’s TCI gas tax, should it come to pass, by subtracting the TCI carbon fee. Cutting carbon pollution also means improving public health.

H2810 languishes in the TUE committee. Despite a hearing in January that could not accommodate all the concerned citizens who showed up, it was not voted out of committee on Feb. 5, but instead faces another vote in June. A contingent of youth from Our Climate made impassioned pleas for the bill. They are very disappointed in the Senate bills, which do not have the actionable and environmentally just specifics of H2810. They see their future threatened by political inaction and unresponsiveness.

It seems that the TUE committee needs the environmental groups and citizens from all across the state to, once again, come together and demand that “their legislators not back off.” The problem was urgent in 2008, but even more so in 2020. The truth is that we can’t wait, or delay, because climate change won’t wait for us to act.

Kit Sang Boos lives in Northampton.