Editorial: This climate act’s getting old

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It’s getting to feel like everybody talks about the climate, but nobody wants to do anything about it.

Back when a version of that quip appeared in an editorial in the Hartford (Connecticut) Courant in 1897, it was actually about the weather, and it was offered as a joke. What’s happening lately with the climate and human beings — and here, we’re talking about humans of the New York variety — is a more serious matter.

Back in 2019, lawmakers passed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed it into law. It laid out an ambitious goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

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To do that will require an economy-wide process of phasing out fossil fuels in many of the things we rely on — electricity plants, automobiles, home heating and cooking, to name a few of the more prominent ones. Supporters says these are necessary steps to lower greenhouse gas emissions and........

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