Climate disasters: We reap what we sow

Re: “Weather disasters cost U.S. $360 billion,” (TNT, 1/9.)

Back in the 1960s we used to say, “You don’t have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” Now an appropriate adaptation of that expression would be, “You don’t have to be a climate scientist to see the havoc that climate change is wreaking.”

As we continue to pump and dig carbon that has been sequestered in the earth for hundreds of thousands of years, burn it and then send the resulting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to add to already overabundant greenhouse gases, things will only get worse and more costly.

The billions of dollars of loss pointed out in this article are due in part to climate change caused by the process above. Regrettably, the corporations that profit from this process don’t bear the cost of the damage it causes.

From the evidence I’ve seen, market-based economies work best. Unfortunately, there is no market mechanism to keep industry from dumping its waste products into the atmosphere.

A carbon fee and dividend such as the one supported by Citizens Climate Lobby would go a ways toward addressing this shortcoming of the market.

This story was originally published January 14, 2018 at 3:40 PM with the headline "Climate disasters: We reap what we sow."