Give great minds incentive on climate

Believing that humans have an effect on climate change is similar to believing in God. If your beliefs are correct, you adjust your life accordingly and you have a much better future. However, if you are wrong, you’ve made the biggest mistake possible.

Unfortunately, both sides of the climate change issue are cemented in their beliefs with little compromise on the horizon. I believe we should use renewable energy as much as we can. It’s not only good for the environment but may keep costs down in the long run. However, I don’t see us getting completely away from the use of fossil fuels anytime soon.

In the 1700s the English Parliament offered a handsome reward for anyone who could make a perfect clock to help sailors determine how far East or West they were on the high seas. How about if the U.S. government did something similar? Have them offer a reward of several billion dollars to whoever could most efficiently clean our air.

This incentive would draw enough great minds to accomplish this task in a timely manner. Just as when COVID-19 hit the world in 2020, you knew that there would be a solution because so many of the great minds of the world were seeking one. During the Industrial Revolution, great minds came up with all sorts of inventions to make life better and the captains of industry came up with more efficient ways to run businesses. During WWII, the Manhattan Project was able to produce a war-ending bomb.

I believe if the reward was big enough, the great minds of the world would come up with a way to have cleaner air so that we could all live healthier lives and still use fossil fuels. It’s a win-win situation.

Bill Scully

Hoffman Estates