Bill would be investment in our future

Although we cannot blame any particular storm on climate change, we know that burning fossil fuels means increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which means increasing temperatures, which means the atmosphere can hold more moisture, which means that any particular storm will hold more water and release more rain. Your article on Hurricane Barry describes how Louisianans are currently facing this reality and bearing this cost.

But the cost of climate change is not borne by our southern neighbors alone. Climate change is causing extreme weather events around our country and all over the globe - more rain and flooding, stronger hurricanes, droughts leading to wildfires, heat waves, changes to agricultural growing seasons.

We all are already bearing the cost. In our personal lives, we understand the benefits of investing and saving now to avoid serious costs and outcomes later in our lives. And so it is with our environment … investing now will allow us to prevent more serious costs and disasters in the future.

In this case, our investment should come in the form of the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. This piece of legislation would put a rising fee on fossil fuels, gradually pushing industries to invest in renewable and efficient energy sources and encouraging consumers to seek low-carbon energy products.

All of the funds generated from this fee would be returned to American households via a carbon dividend, meaning that people on the lower end of the income spectrum would actually receive more money via the dividend than they would pay in increased energy costs.

This legislation would be an investment in our nation, allowing us to move away from a world of increasing costs and disasters and to instead secure a positive future for our children.

Jim Schwartz

Oak Park