The Cold Truth

The crisis presented by global warming demands a response that is simple, comprehensive and effective. A tax on carbon consumption is the only response in sight that both discourages the production of emissions that cause global warming, and finances the rapid transition to a post-carbon economy.

We have known for several decades that Earth has been warming. We ignored that information, and now global warming is an expensive reality.

Global warming is evident in higher temperatures, longer summers, shorter winters, animals reproducing at earlier times, plants and animals moving north and to higher elevations, hyper-intense weather events, reduced polar ice, higher ocean levels, and more. In three International Panel on Climate Change reports this year, scientists have told us, with very high degrees of certainty, that the planet is quickly heating, that human actions are the primary cause, and that the results are partially avoidable at reasonable costs – if only we would act.

Our experience of global warming – if we don’t arrest it – will be excruciating at best, catastrophic at worst. Within 100 years, we will likely cause a rise in sea level of about 14 feet, a reduction in crop yields of up to 30 percent, upwards of 200 million global warming refugees, the extinction of up to 30 percent of the planet’s species, and more.

Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)