Voluntary carbon tax could help environment

While many have questioned the legitimacy of climate change science, there are a few basic ideas to get across. On a single airline flight across the United States, the view from a passenger seat reveals a landscape that has been intensively managed for energy production, agricultural needs, transportation, extraction industries and housing.

Roughly two-fifths of the North American continent shows the human footprint. Europe, as well as parts of Asia, Australia and Latin America appear similar. While seemingly inexhaustible, our planet's atmosphere, oceans and resources are finite. Renewable energy is a prudent choice and a logical choice whether global warming is steadily increasing due to human-induced changes in the atmosphere or long-term natural processes.

Along parallel lines, the voluntary payment of carbon taxes on travel can help offset individual travel-related carbon emissions. Some carbon offset taxes are as little as $6 for a round-trip flight from Chicago to San Francisco. With over 22,000 round-trip flights between Chicago (O'Hare and Midway) and Minneapolis every year; 20,000 round trips to Denver and Atlanta apiece, and over 60,000 to the major West Coast destinations, we need to consider the implications of our transportation needs and help counterbalance the impacts of airplane, train, bus, boat and car/truck related carbon emissions. A pro-active stance would be better than the alternative.

Willis Lambertson

Barrington