In a Sun Journal article March 1, Gov. Janet Mills was quoted as saying, “Maine cannot wait a day longer” to launch major action against climate change. Will Congress get the message and join the battle?

Actually, some members of the House have already done so. In January they introduced a bill, HR 763, that would place a fee on fossil fuel companies for the harmful gas emissions they emit. British Columbia has been doing so since 2013 and all other provinces have since followed suit.

Their  strategies differ, but overall results have prompted this report: “Economists are virtually unanimous in the view that carbon pricing reduces greenhouse gas emissions at the lowest possible cost to the economy.”  In “The Conservative Case for Carbon Dividends,” several U.S. economists and elder statesmen endorse the idea of pricing carbon, stating that doing so can “strengthen our economy, reduce regulation, help working class Americans, shrink government and promote national security.”

Youths, realizing that they will be the ones to suffer the consequences of inaction on climate, are speaking up forcefully, using big sticks. Bill McKibben says that at this late date, since we older people have blown our chance at leading, our job is to  “have the backs of the young.”

Fern Stearns, Hallowell