Reader suggests taxing businesses to reduce emissions

"Let's stop debating the existence of climate change." "The world must stop putting carbon into the atmosphere and start putting it back in the ground". "This year, [Iowa]...received the most rain ever recorded in the month of May. Then it shut off and we went back into drought, with one of the driest Augusts on record - even drier than... last year's epic drought. July was one of the coldest on record, then we had one of the hottest Septembers."-Iowa Farmer, (http://thegazette.com/2013/11/10/climate-change-is-real/)

Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel use are warming up the planet. Warming causes the atmosphere to hold more water vapor - the fuel that drives thunderstorms and tornadoes. The weather - the biggest variable affecting farmers - is becoming less predictable and more volatile. We see heavier rainfall events that produce floods, winter warm spells that force trees to blossom before the last hard freeze of the season, droughts that reduce crop yields, and heat waves that cause plants to wither and die.

To reduce our future risk and volatility, we must reduce our carbon dioxide emissions.

The best way to do that is with a steadily rising tax on the carbon content of fossil fuels collected from fossil fuel companies (see www.CitizensClimateLobby.org).

Take the revenue from this tax and return it 100% to the public. We'd reduce those emissions without adversely affecting our economy. Any additional costs to farmers can be passed on to consumers, who will have additional income to pay for those costs because of the returned revenue. The predictable rising fee would improve economic efficiency and allow energy efficiency and alternative low-carbon and no-carbon energies to complete on an equal footing. The carbon tax would also be border-adjustable so that it is rebated on exports and imposed on imports from countries with no carbon tax.

Your opinion?

Alexandra Amonette

Richland