Kaitlynn Fetterman-Riggle is a student at the Marin School of Environmental Leadership and an active CCL volunteer.
These past few weeks, California has faced all sorts of turmoil. With an extreme heatwave followed by rolling blackouts, lightning storms, wildfires, and poor air quality, it feels as though the apocalypse is looming. What makes this especially sad, however, is that these events are occurring more and more often. When babysitting a 4-year-old last week, I heard her remark, “Oh look, it’s getting smoky again.” as plainly as she would say that the sky is blue. It is saddening that children are growing up thinking that natural disasters are normal. What kind of world are we creating for our future generations?
Looking at the disasters that are plaguing California at this moment, I can’t help but make one sickening observation: all of these calamities are related to climate change. Every single one. Heatwaves? Brought on by climate change. Rolling blackouts? People are using more energy during heat waves to cool their houses down, therefore putting more stress on our power grids. Lightning storms? Another symptom of climate change. Wildfires? Sparked by the lightning storms that caused more harm than good. Poor air quality? Smoke from the wildfires that ravaged our rolling hills is polluting our air and making it unsafe to even go outside. These disasters will only continue to increase if we don’t take action to reduce our carbon emissions and stop polluting our earth. This is where HR763 comes in.
HR763 is a carbon pricing bill that brings a new and different idea to the concept of carbon pricing: carbon fee and dividend. The idea is that a tax would be put in place on all products based on their carbon footprint, so a higher tax will be placed on products with higher carbon footprints. Imported goods will also have to pay a border adjustment to protect US jobs and manufacturers. This concept is pretty standard for carbon pricing bills, but where HR763 is different is the “dividend” part of “carbon fee and dividend.” The bill is revenue neutral, so the government doesn’t keep any of the fees collected. Instead, all of the money from the carbon tax will be returned to American citizens in the form of a monthly dividend check. Adults get a full share, and children get half shares. Everyone gets the same amount of money back in the dividend check, but individuals are taxed based on how much carbon they use. HR763 is a fair and equitable way to help reduce carbon emissions without making unrealistic changes to our society.
HR763 has been proven by scientists and economists to be an effective yet simple solution that is expected to reduce America's carbon emissions by at least 40% in the first 12 years. It is bipartisan, something rather uncommon when dealing with a climate legislature. HR763 is good for both people and the economy. It will create upwards of 2.1 million jobs, as well as reducing air pollution for citizens across the country. The dividend check will also put money directly into the hands of all Americans, helping middle and low-income families. This is because some people may be spending more money on high carbon products than they are receiving in the dividend check, while others, typically middle and low-income families, may make more environmentally friendly choices that will allow them to break even or even make a small amount of money from the dividend check.
Our planet is in desperate need of help. The global temperature has risen 1.62 degrees since the late 19th century, and will continue to rise unless we take action to prevent this disaster from happening. Global warming is responsible for 150,000 deaths every year, and over 1 million species of animals are at risk of extinction due to climate change. We know that climate change is causing these catastrophic events, so why aren’t we doing anything about it? We need our leaders to put climate legislation, such as HR763, in place to ensure that we have a planet to live on for years to come. We don’t just need climate action; it is our only hope to save our planet.