If you’re concerned about climate change, then there’s something you can do right now to fight it: write to Rep. Peter Welch and ask him to cosponsor H.R. 763, The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2019. This bill seeks to create a revenue-neutral carbon fee and dividend program like the one recommended in the bipartisan Economists’ Statement on Carbon Dividends published in the Wall Street Journal on January 17 — the largest public statement of economists in history, with 3,508 signers from across the political spectrum.
A carbon fee and dividend program seems to be the simplest, fairest and least painful way to make the changes we need to make as a society to save our species. By putting a price on carbon emissions, it harnesses the power and wisdom of markets to do what governments and individuals cannot; by returning 100 percent of the revenue to the American people in the form of a fixed per-person dividend, it minimizes hurt and government bloat.
I’ve got two lovely school-aged daughters, and I often despair to think about the future we’re all creating for them through our daily actions and inaction. H.R. 763 gives me hope that all is not lost. Consider taking five minutes to encourage Rep. Welch to support this potentially world-changing piece of legislation.
Jon Andrews
Middlebury