Limiting global warming requires cooperation of all people to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions, but we cannot expect the rest of the world to reduce its emissions if we don't first reduce ours. I cannot expect you to reduce your emissions if I don't first reduce mine.

So the solution begins at the personal level, with my decisions on transportation (walking, bicycling, choosing hybrid and electric vehicles and trains) and housing (living near work and school, insulating, heating with electricity).

If I'm doing that, I can ask my community to provide bikeways, car charging stations, housing near businesses, and carbon-free electricity sources. If my community has done that, it can ask our state to replace its sales tax with a carbon tax. If our state has chosen a carbon tax, its representatives can ask our nation to replace some income tax with a carbon tax. If our nation is doing that, it can ask other nations to do the same.

-- STEVE GHAN, Richland