Letter: Making a difference to protect coastal communities

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 21, 2022

Living on the coast of Maine as a student at Bowdoin College, the news that the sea level will rise a foot by 2050 no matter what we do is very alarming. Many effects of climate change are already locked in, but decisions we make now will make a huge difference in the more distant future. If we do not take effective action now, this first foot of sea level rise will be merely a puddle compared to the floods that will come. On the brighter side, there is something we can do. Cash-back carbon pricing, such as the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act in Congress, could reduce U.S. carbon emissions 90% by 2050 – nearly the net-zero that is needed – while simultaneously incentivizing the implementation of similar carbon pricing policies around the world through trade. ~ Katharine Gage, Windham