On behalf of all the local members of Citizens’ Climate Lobby, I would like to thank the City Council for passing the resolution supporting a federal carbon fee and dividend (CFD) policy.
Bowling Green now will become the seventh city in Ohio to support CFD. It’s clear that national and international action is needed to tackle the challenge of climate change. Congress recently passed historic incentives for deploying clean energy technologies—a major step forward. But achieving the emission cuts needed, both in the US and internationally, requires a CFD policy. CFD includes a tariff on foreign goods which are manufactured in countries without carbon pricing, pushing all our trading partners to cut their emissions just as fast as we cut ours.
Enacting a comprehensive climate policy like CFD into law requires bipartisan support. In this time of political polarization, waiting and hoping for this bipartisan agreement to emerge in Congress isn’t good enough. We have to work for it.
All of us want a better future and a cleaner environment for our children and grandchildren. None of us wants worse algal blooms on Lake Erie, or more summer skies filled with smoke from Canadian wildfires—to name just two local issues with direct ties to the rapid increase in global temperatures. As neighbors and colleagues, coming from different political viewpoints, we can join together to push Congress to act.
In that light, we are particularly pleased that the resolution supporting CFD passed Council with bipartisan support. Members of Congress will support climate solutions that match the scope of the problem as soon as they see that their constituents are in favor of those solutions. In approving this resolution, Council has sent a clear message to our federal and state representatives: carbon fee and dividend is one of the best tools for solving the climate crisis.
Let’s use it. Let’s preserve and protect the world and the community we call home.
Bob Clark-Phelps
Citizens’ Climate Lobby
Perrysburg
