Editor,
“There’s no proof CO2 causes global warming” (May 27): This letter asks the source of the frequently quoted “97 percent of the world’s scientists agree that global warming is caused by mankind.” Actually, it’s over 97 percent of climate scientists who say AGW is real. The figure derived from an average of the most accurate studies of peer-reviewed climate science papers, worldwide. The figure is prominently displayed on the website of the National Academy of Sciences website and is accepted by every scientific body of national or international standing.
NASA’s website has a list of all 230 of them.
The most recent study, by the National Physical Sciences Consortium, which came out in 2016, of all peer-reviewed climate science papers published in the past two years worldwide, over 24,000 of them by 69,406 authors, shows over 99.9 percent scientific consensus on AGW.
We are running out of time to avert “catastrophic” global warming (IPCC). We need stop arguing with the scientifically illiterate about this impending crisis and focus on solutions to climate change.
Fortunately, we have proven one that will make the vast majority of people better off financially. It’s a carbon pollution tax that’s paid, not to the government, but to taxpayers. The fossil fuel corporations pay the tax in equal monthly “carbon dividend” checks and it increases every year, making oil, natural gas and coal steadily more expensive than solar and wind energy.
You can decide to stick with fossil fuels and break even or make a profit by using our “dividend” money to buy clean energy. This revenue-neutral plan has been working as promised in British Columbia for eight years now, lowering taxes and energy bills there while their economy has out-performed every other Canadian province (The Economist). It has a remarkable 83 percent public approval rating there (World Bank). In the U.S., it’s projected to create over 5 million good-paying, permanent (40-year) U.S. jobs (Stanford University’s solutoinproject.org) and increase GDP &75-80 billion annually (citizensclimatelobby.org).
LYNN GOLDFARB
Denver, Colo.
