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Letter: Shultz inspired a generation of climate-minded Republicans

FILE - In this Nov. 15, 2010 file photo, former Secretary of State George Shultz speaks at University of California Davis during the Governors' Global Climate Summit 3: Building the Green Economy, in Sacramento, Calif. Shultz, former President Ronald Reagan’s longtime secretary of state, who spent most of the 1980s trying to improve relations with the Soviet Union and forging a course for peace in the Middle East, died Saturday, Feb. 6, 2021. He was 100. (Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee via AP, File)

George Shultz III was many things: a World War II Marine veteran, a doctor of economics, secretary of state, and one of the few Americans chosen to serve in three different presidential Cabinets.He embodied effective public service in government, integrity in every office and immortality -- in the work he left behind for us.

In the closing chapters of his life, Sec. Shultz lent his political expertise to the cause of carbon dividends, an approach to climate change with bipartisan appeal. Along with James Baker, he authored The Conservative Case for Carbon Dividends, advocating for the Baker-Shultz Carbon Dividends plan that proudly bears his name. Climate was the capstone of his legacy, and he inspired young conservatives like me with that masterpiece.

Climate change is a top issue for young Republicans. Before the creation of the Baker-Shultz Carbon Dividends plan, our options for solutions to climate change lacked substance. While others gravitated towards proposals pushing heavy spending and regulation, conservatives, generally opposed to these measures, had nowhere to turn. Left without viable solutions, the Republican Party risked losing the rising generation.

Secretary Shultz’s plan has united these environmentally-conscious conservatives, including many college Republican leaders in Utah. Thank you, Secretary Shultz, for your stellar service to your country over nearly a century, for leading with integrity, and for paving the way on climate for young Republicans like me.

Spencer May, Provo

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