Letters to the Editor: We can’t quit fossil fuels right now, but we must phase them out. Here’s how

To the editor: I agree with the sentiment of the editorial, “No more half measures on climate change. The next generation is right to demand an end to fossil fuels.”

I also know that the subject is complicated. Fossil fuels made our nation the power it is today.

We can’t shut off the tap today in an instant. However, we can dramatically reduce the use of oil and gas faster, eliminating them over time without compromising on our current living standards.

Electric and battery-operated vehicles are cheaper to run and need fewer repairs than cars with fossil-fuel engines. Our society needs to embrace them, so mass production can bring down the cost to consumers.

In addition, our politicians shouldn’t allow new drilling under the guise of energy security. The sun, the wind, the tides and other natural forces we can use to produce energy are not limited to any one nation.

Thus, expanding those renewable forms of power, while speeding up the permitting process, will bring us energy security.

Jonathan Light, Laguna Niguel

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To the editor: The climate threat, ignored for so long, is driving many of us to desperate but possibly ineffective measures. For example, capturing one part per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would require spending at least $800 billion (and we are increasing atmospheric CO2 at an annual rate of 2.5 parts per million).

For 35 years, I have lived within sight of the 134 Freeway, on which trucks and cars continually pass. Shall we lock up the gas stations? Though this would be good for the planet, politically it would be impossible.

Only a transition to clean energy has a chance of ending our use of fossil fuels.

How to transition? The Inflation Reduction Act provides rewards for those who electrify everything. Savings of $1,800 per year are possible.

An equally effective policy would be a carbon fee with the billions in revenue rebated to taxpayers. This would use the power of the market to switch to renewables without burdening lower- and middle-class residents.

Nature isn’t playing around. We better get smart. Voting for climate champions is essential.

Jan Freed, Los Angeles