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Patrick White is a student at the University of Maine and regional director for Students For Carbon Dividends. Abigail Despres is a student at UMaine.
In comfortably electing both Joe Biden and Susan Collins on Nov. 3, Maine stood alone as the only state to back different parties for the White House and U.S. Senate. Meanwhile, Jared Golden not only secured reelection in a district where Donald Trump increased his 2016 margin, but did so at a percentage above the president’s final tally. Above all else, this election proved that Mainers value doers: those willing to abandon hyper partisanship in the pursuit of meaningful, pragmatic results.
Outside the Pine Tree State, across most kitchen tables, politics has become a zero-sum game. We are viewed as either allies or enemies; the light versus the dark. Besides the obvious social costs, modern partisanship has thoroughly exacerbated crisis after crisis — a fact made painfully clear during the worst public health crisis in over a century. For democracy, the status quo is unsustainable and broken.
It does not have to be this way, nor should it. The average American just wants solutions, and they do not care who or where they come from. In this regard, the better instincts of Mainers prevailed. Now, we must continue to set an example for the rest of the country by choosing to move forward from the election and focus on solving our most urgent issues — together. While defeating the coronavirus should be the first and foremost priority, it is difficult to find another issue as disproportionately damaging to Maine in the short and long term as climate change.
Among a myriad of staggering effects, the state faces a 70 percent increased threat of widespread summer drought by 2050, roughly 50 percent shrinkage to snow season by late century and waters in the Gulf of Maine have already warmed faster than 99 percent of the world’s oceans. Our fisheries, agriculture and tourism appeal are quite literally the bedrock of Maine’s economy, and it should be understood in no uncertain terms that if these developments are left unaddressed, communities from the coastline to the mountains will be destroyed.
Right now, posturing is as useless as inaction. Frankly, posturing is inaction. Any climate solution with a chance of being signed into law requires two things: a catalyst for meaningful emission reductions by large corporations, and consideration of the economic implications for everyday people. A carbon dividend would succeed to both ends, and the clear solution is the Baker-Shultz proposal.
By implementing a gradually rising price on carbon and giving the entirety of the revenue to the American people, the average family of four would receive about $2,000 per year. In Maine specifically, the bottom nine out of 10 households would come ahead financially. Baker-Shultz would ensure that the United States exceeds the goals set by the Paris Accord, reduces domestic emissions by 57 percent in the next 25 years, and does so while no longer putting the costs of climate change on the working class.
It is no wonder the plan has been lauded by environmentalists, economists and the business sector — not to mention Democrats and Republicans alike.
Throughout our time in college, the two of us have worked for both sides of the aisle on a variety of issues. It is readily apparent from a political calculus standpoint that Baker-Shultz has substantial benefits for each party. For the majority of our peers, such mutually advantageous policies are exactly what is being sought in order to bridge our political differences.
As we enter 2021, we are faced with a binary choice: continue down the path of partisan gridlock, or reconcile around solutions where all sides can win. A carbon dividend is not just the perfect answer to climate change, but the perfect answer in general to thrust Maine’s rich tradition of bipartisanship back to the national level. Let us embrace Baker-Shultz not just for future generations, but for the sake of our very own.