Amelia Walden

Park City Day School

3120 Pinebrook
Park City, UT 84098

8 March 2017

The Honorable Orrin Hatch

United States Senate
8402 Federal Building
125 South State Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84138

Dear Senator Hatch,

I am Amelia Walden, a seventh-grader in Park City, Utah. Climate change is becoming more of a reality
every year, and our legislation is not doing enough to stop it. Efforts towards clean energy are minimal,
and cutting down our carbon output has simply not been a priority. Our Congress should put more focus
on finding solutions to climate change.

Climate change will cause significant increases in ocean water levels, ocean acidity, and global
temperatures, and substantial decreases in snow cover, arctic ice coverage, and antarctic ice sheets. Sea
levels are expected to rise between one and four feet in the next eighty-five years, but a broader range of
0.66 to 6.6 feet shows that we are uncertain how significantly breaking and melting ice caps and ice
sheets will affect water levels. Snow cover is expected to decrease by 15% by 2100, according to the
EPA. If greenhouse gas emissions do not decrease, a warming ocean will cause more intense hurricanes
on the Atlantic Coast. The consequences of climate change are unpredictable, but will surely affect our
future greatly.

Please prioritize climate change in legislation, as it is a matter that will affect the entire planet for
generations to come if we do not take action now. More specifically, we need to focus on finding clean
and renewable alternatives to oil, coal, and natural gas, increase regulations on industrial pollution output,
and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Although creating legislation working towards solving climate
change and research into climate change will add to the budget, this spending is essential if we wish to
alleviate the long-term effects of climate change. Thank you for reading and considering my perspective
on climate change policy.

Sincerely,

Amelia Walden
 Works Cited:

"US Senator Orrin Hatch." Committee Assignments - - United States Senator Orrin Hatch. N.p., n.d. Web.
08 Mar. 2017.
Longley, Robert. "How to Write Effective Letters to Your Congressman or Senator."ThoughtCo.
About, Inc., 24 Feb. 2017. Web. 06 Mar. 2017.
National Priorities Project. "Federal Spending: Where Does the Money Go." National Priorities Project.
N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2017.
Environmental Protection Agency. "Future of Climate Change." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency,
27 Dec. 2016. Web. 28 Feb. 2017.
Davenport, Coral. "Top Trump Advisers Are Split on Paris Agreement on Climate Change."The New
York Times. The New York Times, 02 Mar. 2017. Web. 08 Mar. 2017.
"Legislative Search Results." Congress.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2017.