By Amanda Bowers

Climate change is real and increasing. I believe that the ingenuity of Americans can solve this problem. Americans have a great capacity to come together to face a crisis, and despite the political division in our country right now, we still have that capacity. That is why the time to act is now. We are moving quickly toward irreversible tipping points that could alter the climate dramatically for generations to come.

The perfect can be the enemy of the good, and what is good now is to act using the information and resources that are at hand to reduce carbon emissions so that the warming of the planet is disrupted. One of the best tools we have to quickly reduce emissions is the carbon price. It will slow the flood of emissions that are increasing temperatures that are causing severe weather, melting of the ice caps and the rise in the sea level.

The revenues from the carbon fee will be returned to Americans, who can in turn invest in products and technologies that are better for the environment. This will also alleviate the effects of climate change on those who will bear most of the burden. It is a market-based solution that will motivate industries to develop new technologies to reduce their own emissions and to make our society more energy efficient while ensuring that those who are most affected by climate change are justly compensated.

We can make climate change solutions a reality by utilizing technological solutions as well as improving energy efficiency. It is not an unsolvable problem by any means, but we need to act now. Continuing to kick the can down the road will only worsen the current situation and threaten the prosperity of future generations of Americans.

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