Letter: Climate politics
To the editor:
Elected officials should take action on climate change this year. The simplest solution is a tax on carbon at the well, mine and port of entry. Then take those federally collected proceeds and return them equally to each citizen as a check, just like the citizens of Alaska get from the big oil companies. So we need a carbon fee and dividend to shield citizens from resulting higher energy costs.
Conservatives can take the lead. If you wonder why there’s so much doubt and skepticism go to Wikipedia.org and type in “climate change denial.” There you’ll see the history of an industry funded campaign “casting doubt on the science” and “re-positioning climate change as theory rather than fact.” This well-coordinated, well-funded campaign by contrarian scientists, free-market think tanks, and industry has created a paralyzing fog of doubt. Conservative billionaires, politics and popular media have successfully slowed efforts on this critical issue.
We can solve this problem. Germany generated three-quarters of its power from the wind and sun in the summer of 2014. It’s less a question of technical prowess than political will. If the political will were mustered, change could spread rapidly.