China and the United States have just taken an historic step and have become the first two nations to formally accept the Paris Climate Agreement. This is a truly momentous step, for between them they account for about 40 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions. The Paris agreement aims at keeping global temperature rise to no more that 2 degrees Celsius, and hopefully to below 1.5 degrees C. The group of 20 will meet soon and consider accepting the agreement.

The momentum is clearly on the side of the 97 percent of the climatology experts who accept the science of climate change and believe we must act decisively to combat it. It is time for all of us in the U.S. to unite behind this agreement and help to preserve a livable world for future generations. It is the right, moral thing to do.

Fortunately, now there are many ways to achieve this that are economically feasible. A carbon fee and dividend plan is a conservative, common sense approach to achieve this goal. You simply place a fair fee on the production of carbon dioxide to account for the damage they cause to humans and our environment and refund all of the money to all U.S. citizens.

The price of solar and wind are now very competitive with fossil fuels, and once these hidden costs are accounted for, they quickly become less expensive than fossil fuels. With this plan, you get big government out of the way and let the free market take over. It also acts as a big stimulus to our economy: A win for the economy and a win for the environment.

Vernon Dixon
Hiawassee