Climate change is real and is a serious issue

To the editor:

Thanks for the piece about the misleading attack ads that have been aimed at U.S. Sen. Mark Begich.

Sometimes forgotten is the reality that a well-designed carbon tax would actually be a good thing. We should hope that Sen. Begich (and our other members of Congress) will support one. Climate change is real, and it is extremely serious. There is no uncertainty about this among climate scientists — only about the details.

The Pentagon has acknowledged the threat, and major corporations are already including effects of climate change in their business plans. Still, these will hit the rest of us hard (ocean acidification, sea level rise, etc.). We need to do what we can to stop climate change, and a well-designed carbon tax (collected at the wellhead, coal mine, etc.) is one way. All revenues would be returned to our households (like the PFD) to keep people from taking a hit financially. It will level the playing field for more alternative energy solutions to be developed by the free market.

These are likely to create more jobs than the oil, coal, gas, etc. Several conservative economists have supported this type of carbon tax. So should the rest of us.

Phil Somervell

Anchorage