Letter to the editor
To the editor:
Congratulations to our newly elected members of Congress in New Jersey! In District 7, Leonard Lance, representing Hillsborough, was re-elected to the House of Representatives. Our elected leaders will surely have many issues to consider and take action on. One of those important issues must be addressing climate change.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its concluding installment of the Fifth Assessment Report on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2014. The report synthesizes the work of almost 1000 scientists from over 80 countries around the world.
The report confirms that human influence on the climate is clear and growing. Thomas Stocker, co-chair of the IPCC Working Group, says, "Our assessment finds that the atmosphere and oceans have warmed, the amount of snow and ice have diminished, sea level has risen and the concentration of carbon dioxide has increased to a level unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years."
The report says that climate change threatens irreversible and dangerous impacts affecting all levels of society and the natural world. Climate change is a non-partisan issue. The effects of increased temperature, sea level rise, increasing severity of storms, and intensifying droughts will affect all people on Earth — regardless of political affiliation.
But there is reason for hope. Putting a price on carbon will certainly reduce greenhouse gas emissions efficiently. And we have the technology to convert to more renewable forms of energy. A recent study by Regional Economic Models Inc. shows that a steadily rising fee on carbon-based fuels would cut carbon emissions in half within 20 years. If the revenue from the fee is returned to households, the study states that more than 2.5 million jobs will be added to the U.S. economy.
Decreasing carbon emissions with a net gain of jobs are outcomes all politicians should be able to support. I urge Mr. Lance and all the newly elected members of Congress to prioritize passing carbon fee and dividend legislation early in 2015.
Nadine Kadell Sapirman
Hillsborough