By Ellie Whitney

The year 2012 saw more than 34,000 U.S. heat records shattered, violent western wildfires, widespread drought, record melting of Arctic ice and many devastating storms — all consequences of a rise in global heat of less than 1 degree Celsius over the past 100 years.

One degree. It sounds like so little — yet, suddenly, we are caught up in a major emergency. Suddenly, the Earth is embraced by an atmosphere laden with nearly 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide (CO2), a concentration higher than at any time during the last 800,000 years. The result is a maelstrom of disruptions of the global climate that threaten the stability of every human civilization and natural ecosystem, as well as enormous damage costs.

Climate scientists predicted the oceans would warm and turn acidic, polar ice and permafrost would melt, sea levels would rise and extreme weather events would become ever more violent and frequent. But no one foresaw how rapidly these changes would take place.

Participants at international conferences over the last 10 years agreed that, to avert catastrophe, we must keep the planet’s temperature from rising more than two degrees Celsius, but now we realize that two degrees was too high a limit. All of the science done in the last 15 years has shown that the predicted changes are happening at lower temperatures. The climate is more sensitive than anyone realized and the real threshold of safety is 1.5 degrees Celsius, which is no longer attainable.

We also failed to appreciate the long delay before the planet’s temperature responds to a rise in atmospheric CO2. It is the CO2 accumulated during the last half-century that is causing the planetary fever we are now experiencing. The CO2 we are now accumulating will produce a further rise over the next half-century. Many more destructive impacts of global climate change are in the pipeline and will be delivered in the future.

Even if we halted our emissions tomorrow (and we can’t), the warming to which we are already committed would precipitate at least a three-degree rise. If we do nothing, we are on track for at least a six-degree rise within this century — with unthinkable results.

No question, then: We must take serious action — fast. And we can, thanks to the widespread belief among Americans that we must. The president is willing to lead. Gov. Christie will doubtless also lead, because he knows firsthand the price we pay for violent weather.

An emergency response is warranted based on the costs alone: The International Energy Agency warns that every year we fail to begin to stabilize the climate will add an extra $500 billion to the investment required. To avoid utter devastation, CO2 emissions must stop rising no later than 2017, and thereafter fall rapidly every year.

Only by mounting a major effort can we meet this challenge. Beginning right now, the U.S. Congress can enact legislation to curb the CO2 emissions that are the principal cause of global warming. The quickest, simplest, fairest and most efficient way to go is to put in place a fee-and-dividend system, gradually raising the prices of fossil fuels across the whole economy while protecting citizens and businesses from adverse financial impacts.

Three steps are necessary. First, collect a fee from all fossil fuels at their points of entry into our economy from wells, mines, ports and pipelines. To ease the transition, let the fee rise a little each year.

Second, to shield our citizens from the resulting rise in fossil-fuel prices, rebate the proceeds to the American people in equal amounts per adult. No new bureaucracy is needed; the IRS can accomplish both of these steps.

Third, to make foreign trade fair, require our trading partners to pay carbon fees at the border to account for the carbon dioxide emissions involved in the manufacture and transport of their goods into our country. Predictably, once this system is in place, other countries will find it to their economic advantage to adopt similar systems in order to collect the proceeds themselves.

The effect is expected to be a planet-wide reduction of CO2 emissions within a few years, with resultant slowing, and ultimately halting, of further climate disruption.

Gov. Christie will no doubt embrace the idea of a revenue-neutral carbon fee and encourage others in his party to do the same. Republicans can support it, because many conservative economists already endorse it and because it adopts a market approach, rather than government regulation, as a way forward.

It will be a privilege to participate in this historic transformation. We will be engaging in the most important work that humankind has ever undertaken. Our descendants will point to this as the time when we began to heal the Earth.

Ellie Whitney, Ph.D., has authored many books on health and the environment, served as environmental columnist for the Tallahassee Democrat and studied climate and energy issues since the 1980s. Now retired, she lives in East Windsor and volunteers for the Citizens Climate Lobby.

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