Mega-drought is coming without climate action

As I write this, around 60 percent of the U.S. is in drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. According to NASA, droughts like these are made more common by climate change, and if we don’t slow our greenhouse gas production, we have a better-than-even chance of seeing a thirty-year megadrought in the Southwest and Central Plains, as bad as the Dust Bowl. A conservative estimate of the costs of this, and other effects of climate change suggests that it will damage our GDP by at least 10 percent over the next 50 years.

A falling GDP means lost jobs and lower incomes for those who remain employed. It means that our children won’t get to enjoy the same amount of prosperity and safety that we enjoy today. Fortunately, the free market is pushing us away from greenhouse gas-producing fossil fuels and toward renewables. But for the sake of our children this change needs to happen even faster.

There is one method for accelerating this change that actually puts money back in America’s pocket. The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act raises the price of fossil fuels to encourage a shift to greener energy, but then puts that money directly back into your pocket as a check. Sixty percent of Americans would receive more money from this act than they would pay out in increased fuel costs, and your grandchildren will thank you for being fiscally responsible stewards of their planet.

Visit https://energyinnovationact.org/ for more information.

Jared Kline

Cedar Rapids