Climate Change
Dear Editor: Re: Lisa Murkowski, “Climate Change is Real.” In Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s address to the Alaska Federation of Natives on Oct. 21 she tells those gathered: “Climate change is real.” She then states: “our world is changing. The world around us is changing: socially, economically, and ecologically. And we all know that climate change is at the heart of this change.”
I applaud Sen. Murkowski for sounding the alarm on climate change. I was encouraged to hear her say that confronting climate change “will take leadership.” I was less encouraged when she spoke of “adapting” to it without calling to slow, stop, or reverse it. I look forward to a time, hopefully in the near future, when it is not exceptional for a republican member of Congress to speak of climate change as the “issue that is defining our time,” but I recognize that right now Sen. Murkowski’s statements took courage and leadership. I respect her courage. I would now ask that she show the leadership of which she spoke by leading congress to reduce greenhouse gasses (GHG) in our atmosphere. It is not enough to simply “adapt.” Adapting ignores the ecological, social, and economic costs of climate change.
So far, market economies have failed to account for the truly enormous cost of burning fossil fuels. Putting a price on the carbon embedded in fossil fuels allows the market to efficiently account for the costs of burning these fossil fuels (market driven). The market, through forces such as capital allocation, innovation, shifting competitiveness of alternative sources of energy, and incentivizing changes in behavior (business and personal) can lead to ambitious reductions in the release of GHGs.
This market-driven approach to climate change is good for business and has the support of business leaders and as well as many prominent republican statesmen. A carbon fee and dividend proposal returns 100 percent of the fees collected as a dividend to all households and hence does not contribute to building government or adding regulation (revenue neutral). A carbon fee and dividend program is both market driven and revenue neutral. I encourage everyone to learn more about carbon fee and dividend and/or any other potential responses to climate change. The Citizen’s Climate Lobby website is a good place to start.
Kent Barkhau, Sitka
