LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL: TEST-DRIVING ‘CARBON FEE AND DIVIDEND’

Climate change outreach programs often claim that there is some good news: humans have a choice that can minimize bad climate consequences. This choice is sometimes presented as making personal decisions that save energy. Audiences are right to be skeptical: this behavior has been preached since before the first Earth Day, when carbon dioxide in the atmosphere stood at 325 ppm as compared to today’s 400 ppm.

An alternative hedge against gloom and doom is to play a game that simulates putting a price on carbon, based on a proposal that thousands of citizens in all 50 states are now advocating to congressional representatives. This lesson has been delivered as a one-hour outreach program to adults and to high school AP Economics and AP Environmental Science students.

The first half of the lesson is structured as a response to questions posed by economics and environmental science students when presented with the bare outlines of the Carbon Fee and Dividend Proposal set out by Citizens’ Climate Lobby (https://citizensclimatelobby.org/carbon-fee-and-dividend/). Simply stated, it “will place a steadily increasing fee on fossil fuels at their source...All revenues will be returned in equal shares to American households as a monthly dividend.” A slideshow summarizes the results of an independent study by Regional Economic Models, Inc., which projected a net positive impact on jobs and economic growth and a 50% cut in carbon emissions over 20 years.

The remainder of the lesson plays “what if” with a spreadsheet that simulates individual economic choices under 20 years of carbon fee and dividend. Participants bet using play money on, for example, what it could cost them to live without a car close to school or work, versus commuting 30 miles in a pickup truck, hybrid, or electric vehicle.

In post-lesson surveys, participants consistently register a modest shift away from perceptions that such a carbon-pricing scheme would negatively affect lifestyles and the economy.