Climate change presents us with a moral imperative. California has a raging wildfire — again. Louisiana has now routine “500-year” rainstorms. Zika is headed north, and ice is melting quickly on the North Pole. Just to mitigate the consequences of our warming planet, our window of opportunity is closing. It’s time to act on climate now, instead of waiting.
Thanks to a committed grass-roots effort, Washington can vote “yes” on I-732 this November. Based on the 2008 carbon tax passed in Vancouver, B.C., I-732 would drop our state sales tax by 1 percent, and replace that state revenue with a new carbon fee paid by big-time polluters. Most families will save $200 a year, and 400,000 low-income families will get the Earned Income Tax Credit. Once a “price signal” is put on large-scale carbon emissions, green energy like solar and wind will be incentivized.
Future generations are depending on us. We have a moral obligation to act on climate now. No one else in Washington has delivered on significant climate legislation yet. We can change that, by passing I-732. It’s time to make history.
