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Heatwaves and High Bills: The Urgent Need for a Carbon Tax in 2024
Summer 2024 has been a scorcher already — and it’s only July! In fact, more than 100 million Americans have been issued heat advisories, marking an unsettling trend: summer temperatures are heating up ing earlier and lasting longer. (Gone it seems are the days of nighttime relief, which creates its own problem.) As the mercury rises, so do the costs associated with keeping cool, specifically through energy costs related to increased use of air conditioning. As a result there is a disproportionate number of people who are faced with the financial burden of increased energy bills.
For many Americans, this isn’t just a question of comfort, but one of survival.
Over the past few years, heat deaths have steadily risen, from 1,563 in 2021, to 1,702 in 2022, and, provisionally, 2,297 deaths in 2023. According to the 2023 report by the World Meteorological Organization, “extreme heat is causes the excessive the greatest mortality of all extreme weather.”
Those who think we can’t afford to cap carbon emissions are mistaken; we can’t afford NOT to price carbon.
A staggering 1 in 5 U.S. households report reducing or giving up necessities like food and medicine to cover their energy bills, a sobering reminder that electricity bills are not static, and as temperatures…
