To the Editor:
Climate change is a burning issue out west while back east we experience increased hurricanes and high-tide coastal flooding. Yale’s 2020 climate opinion map shows 72% of Americans believe in global warming, including 71% of North Carolinians and 74% of Chatham County residents. (https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/ycom-us/)
The majority of us know that climate change is real, yet may not know solutions. One free online scientific educational tool is “Climate Interactive En-Roads” (https://www.climateinteractive.org/tools/en-roads/). This simulation model allows you to choose a scenario to limit future global warming with immediate feedback on the impacts. Yes, many synergistic solutions will help reverse climate change, yet “En-Roads” demonstrates that carbon pricing is the most effective primary lever to reverse our ever-increasing atmospheric CO2 from burning fossil fuels for our energy needs. In important economic terms, recently, the G20 finance leaders collectively recognized the power of carbon pricing to address climate change, issuing their first official communique to coordinate economic carbon reduction policies with carbon pricing to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Why put a price on carbon? Read here: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/price-on-carbon/ in H.R.2307 — Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. Call Representative Budd and Senators Burr and Tillis to co-sponsor carbon pricing legislation. Inaction is not a policy.
Minta Phillips
Julian