With the recent release of a report detailing the dangerous consequences of increasing global warming, climate experts are sounding the alarm yet louder that accelerated action to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions is no longer optional.
Washington voters can demonstrate their recognition of this irrefutable fact by voting for I-1631 to begin placing a fee of $15 for each ton of CO2 emitted by most major CO2-producing industries in this state.
How much of this fee might be passed on to consumers warrants careful consideration.
Climate change, regardless of cause, carries with it a societal cost.
That societal cost, expressed as the cumulative economic impact caused by climate change attributed to each ton of CO2, has been calculated in a recent study published in Nature: Climate Change.
The results, calculated for each country, show that the U.S. is among the few countries that have the most to lose from continued CO2 emissions.
For the U.S., this cost ranges from $48 to $100 per ton of CO2.
This scientific result puts the initial $15 per ton CO2 fee of I-1631 in a useful context.
Rejecting I-1631 will not avoid the cost of climate change; quite the contrary, by delaying charging producers for harmful emissions, it will guarantee we pay more.
Climate scientists work hard to provide predictions and information that can benefit society.
We would be wise to use that information in our decision-making.
Naively waiting around for their expert predictions to come true will definitely prove more costly.
Bob Bindschadler,
Quilcene