I applaud Greg Kesich’s relating the need for a cultural shift on driving similar to the changed attitudes about smoking (The View From Here, March 15). But even that, as great a change as it would be, would barely touch the needed decrease in atmospheric carbon.
Yes, it will be part of the solution, but if we cannot muster the will to take significant actions to spare ourselves and our children from the crisis already costing us health and wealth, our driving habits are little more than frosting on a very stale cake. While we also need innovative ways to reduce the high atmospheric content of carbon, the most important and most effective step is to reduce the use of fossil fuels.
More and more, our legislative leaders are coming to know that a carbon fee with dividends returned directly to each household is the most effective and responsible action. Many other actions will be needed, like subsidizing innovation in carbon sequestration, perhaps to the amount we already subsidize the oil producers, but our support of the bipartisan HR 763 (the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act) is the place to start.
Valerie Blais
Portland
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