Clara Fang poses along the banks of the Detroit River.

by Clara Fang

I joined Citizens’ Climate Lobby because I wanted to do something about climate change. At the time I did not know that CCL had an image problem when it came to environmental justice because of its support for a carbon tax, a strategy that calls for taxing energy companies a fee based on the amount of carbon emissions they produce.

The mechanism is controversial with environmental justice communities because its close relatives, cap-and-trade and carbon offsetting, have done little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while enabling companies to “pay to pollute.”

However, recent carbon tax bills bear little resemblance to old problematic ones and do support environmental justice goals.

Read the rest of Clara’s op-ed for an explanation of how a carbon fee & dividend policy can support environmental justice