Report is ominous warning on climate

Your Nov. 23 article on the National Climate Assessment from our federal government reminds us that human-caused climate change is real, it is currently producing economic impacts on our country and those effects will worsen over the coming decades if we take no steps to counter it.

"Climate change is transforming where and how we live and presents growing challenges to human health and quality of life, the economy and the natural systems that support us," the report tells us.

Fortunately, we have the tools to fight back. A carbon fee and dividend policy, like that posed by the organization Citizens Climate Lobby, is favored by 71 percent of registered voters, 84 percent of Democrats and 56 percent of Republicans. This policy would collect a fee from energy companies for every bit of coal, oil, or gas mined, which would push those same companies and others to seek carbon-neutral sources of energy.

To compensate for higher energy costs, this policy would return 100 percent of the funds collected to American households. Research shows that this policy would reduce carbon pollution to 50 percent of 1990 levels and add 2.8 million jobs to the economy, which means that it is a win-win solution that both parties and all people can get behind. Let's call on our legislators to respond to the threat of climate change with a truly bipartisan solution - carbon fee and dividend.

Jim Schwartz

Oak Park