By Mary Mulcaire-Jones, Chapter Leader, Missoula Citizens’ Climate Lobby
As 2019 comes to a close, we look over gains and losses from the past year. In review, there are definite losses in the battle to address climate change. Recent headlines warn that carbon emissions are up 0.6% from 2018 and carbon dioxide pollution is at its highest level ever. This is from the end of the year report by the Global Carbon Project, an academic consortium that calculates annual, worldwide carbon emission figures. “We’re blowing through our carbon budget the way an addict blows through cash,” warns Rob Jackson, a professor of Earth Science at Stanford University and the chair of the project. Locally, this fall, we saw the news headline, “Montana may lose half its bird species;” a warning included in the National Audubon Society’s 2019 report on the effects of climate change on bird ecosystems.
If you are like me, you are not immune to these warnings. Most of us would like to make lifestyle changes if we could, but it feels close to impossible. We need our cars to get to work, to school, and to shop. We would like to drive less, but we’re not going to deprive our kids of participating in out of town sporting events. We know airplanes are big polluters, but we can’t miss that family wedding on the East Coast or that work conference in Houston. We have no idea how to address this overwhelming problem, and so it gets tucked into a back corner of our minds, labeled “Things to Worry About Later.”
However, as the above reports suggest, later is now here. Record-breaking heat waves, ice melts and wildfires are happening now. Economic records are being broken as severe weather events rack up costs in the billions of dollars. According to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), 2019 is the fifth consecutive year in which 10 or more billion-dollar weather and climate disaster events have impacted the United States. This is on top of the health costs of fossil fuel air pollution, which have been estimated at $120 billion annually.
On the side of gains, there is a growing consensus around a solution for getting us on track for lowering emissions. This solution is known as the climate fee and dividend policy, and it’s been endorsed by over 3,445 American economists, including four former Chairs of the Federal Reserve, 27 Nobel Laureate Economists, and two former Secretaries of the U.S. Department of Treasury.
These economists agree that a rising carbon fee offers the most cost-effective climate policy solution, sending a powerful price signal to businesses and consumers. This approach uses the market to stimulate innovation, create jobs, and improve health. The plan’s basic outline includes a fee on fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas. The fee starts low and grows over time. It will drive down carbon pollution because energy companies, industries, and consumers will move toward cleaner, cheaper options. The money collected from the carbon fee is allocated in equal shares every month to the American people to spend as they see fit. The government does not keep any of the money from the carbon fee.
There’s more good news. There is a non-partisan organization that has formulated federal legislation based on this policy. They are laser-focused on educating people about this legislation, called The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, and lobbying Members of Congress for its passage. Citizens’ Climate Lobby relies on the tools of democracy to give people a voice and support actions to work towards the adoption of fair, effective, and sustainable climate change solutions. There is a CCL chapter in Missoula and we’d welcome your questions and involvement. If you’d like to learn more about Citizens’ Climate Lobby or how to join the Missoula chapter, please go to citizensclimatelobby.org.