Big kudos to the Iowa City Council for unanimously passing this resolution last week: Resolution calling on the United States Congress to pass a Revenue Neutral Carbon Fee and Dividend Program.
This proposed legislation is supported by about 400 local branches of Citizen’s Climate Lobby across the U.S. and Canada. Citizen’s Climate Lobby is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots advocacy organization focused on national policies to address climate change. The local Climate Lobby branch, Iowa City Climate Advocates, has been active for about five years, and it lobbied this week in the Cedar Rapids offices of Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst for support of this proposal.
The Climate Lobby’s proposal puts a price (“fee”) on carbon where it is extracted or imported, and returns the proceeds (“dividend”) to the public to offset the increasing cost of carbon-related daily living. Widely studied, the plan actually helps those at the bottom of the economic ladder and is minimally costly to those at the top without harming the economy. The plan’s predictable fee increases are supported by many corporations, as it helps them to plan ahead for making gradual energy transitions.
Because this plan relies on the market instead of regulations, it has found increasing support on both sides of the political aisle. Most importantly, many leading economists and climate scientists affirm that it will be effective at significantly reducing carbon in our biosphere.
This is timely and critically important.
A new study from the Carnegie Institution for Science published in the journal Nature indicates that climate change is occurring at a faster rate than previously predicted, and carbon emissions must be reduced more quickly to avert increasingly catastrophic consequences.
Twenty-five years ago, the Union of Concerned Scientists and over 1,500 independent scientists sent out a “Warning to Humanity.” The authors of the 1992 declaration feared that humanity was pushing Earth’s ecosystems beyond its capacity to support the web of life.
Now, “World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice” has been issued, and signed by 13,524 credible climate scientists from 180 countries. Despite notable progress with renewable energy and carbon, methane and other greenhouse gas reduction efforts, they tell us “humanity is not taking the urgent steps needed to safeguard our imperiled biosphere.”
Meanwhile, Reuters news just informed us: “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could launch a public debate about climate change as soon as January, Administrator Scott Pruitt said on Thursday, as the agency unwinds Obama-era initiatives to fight global warming.” This so-called debate about climate warming and its causes has been over for a long time, so this appears to be an obvious ploy to confuse the public and attempt to continue to raise doubts about anthropogenic climate change. The foxes in Washington are not just guarding the hen house, they are systematically tearing it down.
The American public is connecting the dots with regard to our rapidly increasing global climate crisis, and numerous polls indicate the majority now understands that the crisis is real, and human activity is the root cause. Overwhelmed by the current political upheaval and myriad attacks on environmental safeguards, many people do not believe they can make a difference.
The good news is: There are now 62 members of the congressional Climate Solutions Caucus — half Republicans and half Democrats. That number is steadily growing, and there is a movement afoot to initiate a similar caucus in the Senate. Every one of us can make a call to our senators and representatives to encourage them to join the caucus and support carbon fee and dividend legislation.
“Dangerous times are a crucible for change.” — Philippa Gregory “If the people will lead, the leaders will follow.” — Gandhi Miriam Kashia is a resident of North Liberty. She is a member of Iowa City Climate Advocates and the advocacy group 100 Grannies for a Livable Future.