I am writing in response to the letter published on May 11 entitled “Reducing Carbon Emissions.” The letter calls on our elected officials to recognize the severity of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report and calls for legislators to commit to climate plans that radically reduce carbon emissions to zero.
I couldn’t agree more. I would like to suggest that a cogent and workable plan is to implement a nationwide carbon pricing program. The United States, as an industrial leader (and sadly as a major polluter), should be at the forefront of implementing this type of forward-thinking action, yet we are woefully behind and negligent in creating and passing such legislation.
Currently, 64 carbon pricing plans have been implemented worldwide. Some of the nations involved include China, Canada, Ukraine, Mexico and the European Union (27 countries). One very workable idea is a program of carbon fees and dividends. This simply means that carbon fees are collected as a cost for the burning of fossil fuels. The dividends are the fees collected (minus administrative costs) that are returned to American households. Reducing CO2 emissions is critical for our very survival and we, as a nation, need to get on the ball.
