Alas, the United Nation’s Emissions Gap Report shows that we’re heading in the wrong direction, producing more, not less, greenhouse gas emissions each year.

Yet here’s good news from Congress you won’t read elsewhere:

The Economists’ Statement, signed by 3,500 U.S. economists of all stripes, states in five brief points a plan for cutting carbon dioxide emissions by pricing carbon fuels, returning the proceeds equitably to every household.

There are now no fewer than seven carbon pricing bills being considered in the House. Four are bipartisan. The first and favorite is H.R. 763, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, with 73 cosponsors.

An independent study by Columbia University has shown that, if H.R. 763 is enacted soon, we will exceed current U.S. commitments to the Paris Agreement by 2030.

We are not alone: 80% of imports are from countries that already have carbon pricing.

In the Senate there is now a bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, with Angus King of Maine as one of its founding members.

The Senate is already working on other climate change bills, including the BEST Act, sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins, to focus on energy storage research, so necessary for solar and wind electricity generation.

Republican Members of Congress are showing interest. This follows a conservative poll showing that 75% of Republican voters under 40 want climate action in Congress.

At the global climate conference in Madrid the U.N. Secretary-General said that the world lacks political will, not scientific or technical know-how, to mitigate climate change.

What can you do to build political will in Congress? Just write to your Members of Congress.  Log on here: citizensclimatelobby.org/write-your-representative/#/48.

No stamps or envelopes to lick. Do it now. It’s that easy. Your effort makes a difference.

 

Peter Garrett

Winslow