The coronavirus and this administration’s response to it are really going to impact our economy, but the climate crisis will be a worse impact to our economy. Scientists like me have been trying to warn politicians and businesses about how a stable climate and the economy are interdependent for decades, but the fossil fuel industry created a fake debate about the science. Now that the impacts are being felt around the world, can we finally get some reasonable climate action to move the world away from the fossil fuels that are polluting our air?
The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act introduced in the House of Representatives could provide a stimulus now during the coronavirus recession through monthly dividend checks to American families, while at the same time providing the necessary impetus for businesses to innovate toward cleaner technologies to produce the products and services to maintain our quality of life. We could take this opportunity to demand that our congressmen pass this legislation right now to help us get through this crisis while providing hope for a future that our children deserve. The batteries, wind turbines, solar panels, insulation, heat pumps and electric vehicles are ready to be deployed at the scale necessary to provide us with the clean energy and quality of life that our children deserve.
The solution to the climate crisis is to stop burning fossil fuels. The solution to the air pollution on the Wasatch Front is to stop burning fossil fuels. The solution to a steady, robust economy is to stop burning fossil fuels. The way to stop burning fossil fuels is for our politicians and businesses to stop subsidizing dirty energy and the way to get them to do that is for the people to demand it.
Kevin Leecaster, Salt Lake City
