October 2010

Please join us in the Million Letter March, sending a million hand-written letters to our congressional representatives so they know America has the political will to solve global warming.
I was inspired by an article in the Washington Post. See my letter typed and hand written.

To write your letter:

  1. Find your congressperson's address using the LWV website.   (Note: Anna Eshoo is in the CA 14th district).  
  2. Write your letter. For info, watch the video, and use this link, this one, and this one.
    I suggest:
  3. When you're done,
    *     submit it to the website
    *     mail it to your representative
    *     submit it to a local newspaper
    For the SJ Mercury News: Letters of up to 125 words can be submitted via email. See emailing instructions on any of their letters pages.

Here's a link to the Citizens Climate Lobby
Note that the September and October Conference Calls are on the past conf calls page.
Conf call: 1-866-642-1665 passcode 440699#

Solving Global Warming

Global warming is a very serious issue. The Cap & Trade legislation had all sorts of problems, and died, so now the way is clear to proceed on a Carbon Fee and Rebate plan.

The Carbon Fee and Rebate plan:

How it works:

See the details of the act, and the FAQ.

Carbon Fee and Dividend plan vs The Cap & Trade plan

Cap & Trade was a bad plan. Enforcement was difficult and meant using lots of consultants and reports and "discretion" and therefore was open to abuse. It was also ambiguous, in terms of whether a project was being undertaken to reduce carbon, or would have been done anyway to replace or upgrade aging systems.

And from the CCL FAQ:
Cap and Trade was used by some early signers of the Kyoto Protocol, the first international treaty to address climate change. Though most early adopters tried hard to make it work, Cap and Trade was not easy to understand, energy prices swung wildly, consumers paid the whole cost of the experiment, and it was not very effective in reducing total CO2 emissions. Much of the reason for this was because of offset credits. Power providers could buy offset credits that allowed them to burn more fossil fuels, but the offset credits did not actually reduce total CO2 emissions. Carbon traders and offset investors made lots of money. Utilities and manufacturers had increased costs that were passed on to the consumer. No real reduction in CO2 was achieved and the consumer was stuck with the bill.

The fee and rebate plan is simple. A direct fee on all carbon fuel is simply added to the source, where it's mined or pumped in America or at the dock where it comes into the country. The fees that are collected are then returned to all Americans to pay for their increased energy costs, raising the cost of carbon-producing energy yet leaving Americans able to pay for it. As the cost rises, non-polluting energy becomes relatively cheaper, encouraging more people to invest in and use alternatives like solar panels and wind energy. Less money goes to overseas oil producers (and American oil and coal producers) and more money to the new clean-energy industry and its jobs.

China, with its recent $700B commitment to developing and deploying clean energy has now surpassed America in its investment and commitment. We now buy huge amounts of imports from China- they've won the low-tech manufacturing markets. If we don't give our energy-technology market the kind of market incentive that the Carbon Fee and Rebate plan offers, in a few years Americans will be buying clean-energy technology from China, too. We need the Carbon Fee and Rebate plan to spur invention and innovation in producing clean energy.

Why Republicans Like This