Letter: Carbon from fossil fuels is another kind of national debt

We all hate debt! Personal financial debt weighs like an anchor around one’s neck. National debt unfairly burdens future generations that did not produce it.

Carbon dioxide waste from fossil fuel combustion is another kind of debt. Like financial debt, there is little relief — most of it stays in the climate system for hundreds or even thousands of years. Use of fossil fuel right now produces atmospheric carbon dioxide that will continue to drive climate change for many future generations.

Increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes negative effects (sea level rise, loss of mountain snow as a natural water reservoir, more severe weather, extreme heat, ocean acidification) that far exceed the positives (enhanced photosynthesis, longer growing season in colder regions).

Like the national debt, carbon dioxide places an unfair burden on future generations. Just as federal spending in excess of revenue produces intergenerational inequity, so does use of fossil fuel. Unnecessary fossil fuel use is unfair to our children, our grandchildren, and their progeny. Let’s leave a debt- and carbon-free future for our descendants.

This story was originally published May 30, 2016 at 2:41 AM with the headline "Letter: Carbon from fossil fuels is another kind of national debt."