President Obama’s visit to Alaska follows on the heels of his visit to New Orleans. On both trips he commented on the havoc inflicted by changing climate and the urgent need for action to stem it.
In the southernmost and northernmost parts of America, the ravages of climate change are experienced as rising temperatures and rising seas, accompanied by brutal storms. These problems do not afflict the Midwest, but that is no cause for complacency. In the Midwest, climate change is shoving northern forests into Canada, disrupting precipitation patterns and threatening agriculture. We’re also getting more frequent severe weather events.
We also aren’t immune to the consequences of climate change in other parts of the country and the world. President Obama ticked these off during his comments in Alaska. Among them, mass migrations driven by loss of habitable land erases any hope of world peace.
It may be too late to stop climate change, but that is no excuse for continuing to make it worse. It is time for a rising, market-driven fee on carbon that does not add revenue to the government coffers but rather is returned in equal shares to everyone with a tax ID to compensate for the commensurate rise in the price of energy and consumer goods. Because business and industry make rational economic choices, they would be motivated to conserve energy and shift to sustainable energy sources. The technology for this exists and it is already competitive and constantly improving.
Economists and climate scientists agree that this would improve the economy and public health and effectively put the brakes on climate change. But the President is right: we must act now.
—Carol Steinhart, Madison, Wisconsin
