Dear Editor: Earth Day, April 22, is just around the corner. This is a good time to remind ourselves that Sitka is not immune to climate change that we are seeing all around us.
Citizens’ Climate Lobby is a bipartisan, volunteer group of citizens, working together all over the country and the world to address climate change. Their legislative proposal gives me hope because it has growing bipartisan support, is market driven, revenue neutral, quick to implement, will create jobs and promotes international economic and political stability.
Here is CCL’s (Citizens Climate Lobby) basic proposal:
1) FEE –a revenue neutral CO2 fee on fossil fuel producers, as far “upstream” as possible, increased annually as it’s phased in.
2) DIVIDEND-similar to our PFD but returned monthly, to all Americans. Two thirds of American households would get more money back through the dividend than they would pay in higher fuel costs.
3) BORDER ADJUSTMENT or CARBON EQUALIZER FEE: Most of the largest economies in the world already have this in place. It discourages companies from moving to countries with less regulation, creates jobs and economic growth while providing stability.
You can learn more about CCL and its proposal for mediating the effects of climate change at: www.citizensclimatelobby.org It’s great to have a path that is positively hopeful and closer at hand than you might imagine.
Libby Stortz, Sitka
