On Sep. 20, millions of students from around the world, including over 1,000 in Salt Lake City, joined in protests to demand “an end to the age of fossil fuels.”
For years, scientists have been warning about the dire consequences of climate change, but the rate at which carbon emissions are being added to the atmosphere has continued to rise.
Giving up fossil fuel is not going to be easy but we have to do it. All the nations of the world joined the Paris climate accord and made a commitment to reduce carbon emissions, and each country needs to live up to its commitment.
Saving the world from the consequences of climate change should not be a partisan issue. Elected officials from both political parties in this country need to get together and come up with solutions to address climate change and they need to do it now.
Many economists believe that the best way of reducing carbon emissions is to have a carbon fee sufficient enough to reduce carbon emissions in line with the Paris climate accord agreement. A number of countries, including our neighbor Canada, already have a carbon fee.
The fees collected could be returned to the American people in the form of a monthly dividend. Everyone would get an equal share. Low-income people would come out ahead, because they tend to have a low carbon footprint and would get back more from the dividend than they pay in increased energy related cost. There needs to be border adjustment fee so imported goods from countries that don’t have a carbon fee would not have an unfair competitive advantage.
The simplest way of applying the carbon fee would be to apply it at the source: the mine, well or port of entry.
Russell Patterson, West Valley City
Donate to the newsroom now. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax deductible