There are so many reasons that RGGI provides real value for Virginia: creating new jobs, lowering utility costs for families, planning for and prevention of recurring flooding, decreasing air pollution for better health and missing fewer days of work and school, and more.

Those are all wonderful outcomes we can have by preserving our commitment to RGGI. For me personally, there is still another reason close to my heart.

I live in rural Virginia, now in farmland and previously in an area surrounded by national forest. I love the wildlife and beautiful vistas. However, they are being diminished over time by climate change. In both locales, having lived in each for over 10 years, I've watched the diversity and volume of species disappear. I rarely can see more than the closest set of mountains -- and those are sometimes hazy -- whereas I used to see several mountain ridges going out as far as the eye can see.

I mourn the loss of what I no longer have. If Virginia doesn't do everything possible to preserve its natural beauty and wildlife, I fear that many of us will someday realize that we no longer have what we valued most in living here.

I've heard that the governor is concerned about the out migration of Virginia residents. We need to attract people here, particularly younger workers to help serve the growing aging population. And younger people are not ambivalent about climate change and the natural world.

Please be wise and preserve Virginia before it's too late.