It can be disheartening to see an environmental policy fail. Luckily, failure is often just an opportunity for improvement. That’s the message I took away from a recent article (“California’s war on plastic bag use seems to have backfired. Lawmakers are trying again,” Los Angeles Times, Feb. 18).
Similarly, we can look to other countries to learn about their climate change solutions. Putting a price on carbon — a carbon fee and dividend — is successful in countries like Canada. These programs collect fees from companies as they extract and release carbon emissions, and the money is cycled back to citizens in checks similar to economic stimulus checks.
Putting a price on carbon is a proven win-win that the U.S. needs to get in the game on. I encourage our Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, and Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, to support a carbon fee and dividend for a livable future.
