Fixing Climate Change Free

To the Editor: 
In response to “Energy Plan, Upgrades Will Save City $1 Billion over 15 Years” published on the Herald’s website March 5: How about an energy plan that will save Americans hundreds of billions every year?
We have a proven plan that will do just that. By transitioning to clean energy we can create 5 million permanent (40-year) jobs (Stanford University’s solutionsproject.org) and save over $866.5 billon annually in medical bills for carbon caused illnesses (Forbes) and prevent over 300,000 American deaths from carbon pollution (Nature, the world’s most highly-cited, peer-reviewed science journal).
And the transition to clean energy need not cost Americans anything. British Columbia’s eight-year experience with a revenue-neutral carbon pollution fee has proven that. It’s slashed emissions while lowering taxes and energy bills and their economy has grown faster than any other Canadian province (The Economist). The fee has a whopping 83 percent public approval rating there (World Bank).
It’s called “carbon fee-and-dividend” and it actually puts extra disposable income into consumer’s pockets every month. The fee is paid by all fossil fuel corporations and the money goes to every taxpayer in equal monthly “dividend” checks. The fee increases annually and so do the “dividends.” People make money buying clean energy with the “dividends.” (Citizens Climate Lobby).
In the U.S., carbon fee-and-dividend is projected to increase our gross domestic product (GDP) by $75-80 billion annually.
On the other hand, the costs of future climate change, should we keep burning fossil fuels are projected to be about $369 trillion (Nature). This projection is consistent with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPPC) finding that we’ll face “catastrophic” climate change which will create “global economic collapse” followed by “societal collapse.”
But even if you don’t believe the worldwide scientific community, why would we not want a national energy policy that’s aligned with climate science when there is no economic downside to it and massive economic and health benefits?
There are no government regulations, expansion or expenditures involved, just market forces, so it’s a plan conservatives can support. In fact, George Schultz, President Reagan’s treasury secretary is on the board of advisors for the Citizens Climate Lobby, which is working to get a carbon fee-and-dividend bill passed in Congress.
Take a look at the Citizens Climate Lobby website, and if you feel it’s something you support too, let your congressional representatives hear from you about this no-cost, bi-partisan solution to global warming.