‘Carbon to stone’? Fee and dividend is a better way to fight climate change

To the editor: In my opinion, “carbon to stone” is utterly impractical as a method. (“How to capture carbon dioxide from a power plant and turn it into stone,” June 9)

You still must separate carbon dioxide from other gases and pump billions of tons underground, requiring an infrastructure as vast as current oil pipelines. Such sequestering would raise the cost of coal, which is already more expensive than wind and solar.

Unfortunately, the public could easily be seduced into the false hope of “carbon to stone.” Science is going to solve this after all, so there’s nothing to concern ourselves about, the thinking might be.

This would be as foolish as banking on Mars colonies in the event we destroy Earth.

The most powerful and least painful policy to reduce emissions is a revenue-neutral carbon price, with all money collected returned to the public. Then we can come to grips with the greatest threat our species has ever faced.

Jan Freed, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Finding ways to curb or reduce carbon dioxide in the air is not only a challenge for scientists but also may become a day job for all living beings if global warming cannot be controlled in time.

Everyone on Earth leaves a carbon footprint. Do you know yours? With nearly 7.5 billion people on the planet, the challenge will be to make everyone aware of their daily carbon footprint and supply them with ways of reducing it.

I recently returned from a trip to Europe, where I rented a car for several weeks. The rental agency reported that I had logged nearly 1,250 miles and produced about 660 pounds of carbon dioxide. Creating awareness like this is important and allows everyone the opportunity to actively take part in addressing climate change.

Gerald Staack, Santa Clarita

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