Dear Editor,

I am responding to letters to the Editor that I see in many local papers about global warming which deny that the phenomenon is real.

The data is in and 97% of climate scientists, those scientists specifically working and publishing in areas of earth sciences relating to climate, have agreed that human caused global warming is happening now. Most also agree that it is happening at a faster rate than has been predicted. Most people trust National Geographic. Please refer to their article explaining the science in terms we can all understand, “What is Global Warming?” http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/gw-overview?rptregcta=reg_free_np&rptregcampaign=20150804_invitation_cr_nl_d#

Moving our entire economy away from fossil fuels is critical to solving the problem of greenhouse gas emissions which cause global warming. The “developed” economies are the biggest producers of greenhouse gas. Our economy does have the capability to transition, but not as long as fossil fuels are artificially cheap, due to government subsidies and producers being allowed to dump their carbon pollution in the economy and atmosphere for free. A steadily rising fee on carbon emissions, and that money given back to all Americans in equal shares will be the market signal that will incentivize business and individuals to use non-combustible energy sources like wind and solar. Americans can use those dividend dollars to offset rising prices on fossil fuels.

I am a volunteer for Citizens’ Climate Lobby, a non-profit group that seeks to build the political will for such a plan, that will especially appeal to conservatives because it is revenue neutral and works because of free market forces, not regulations. Hopefully our U.S. Congress will consider this free market plan, which we have presented to our Representative Tiberi along with every other U.S. Congressperson.

You may learn more about CCL from their website. http://citizensclimatelobby.org/about-ccl/

Lindsey Kohlenburg, Gilead Township