Regarding the League of Women Voter’s column, “Aiming for more than a century of progress” published on Sept. 30:
I read with interest the League of Women Voters’ piece entitled “Aiming for more than a century of progress.” I applaud the article for asking the question: “How can we develop our town as an exemplar for smaller, industrial or rural towns so that we move all citizens, including low-income, low-mobility citizens to high-traffic areas without expecting them to own cars?” Absolutely! However, Crawfordsville city planning alone will not address the reality that it serves all of Montgomery County and beyond. County level solutions (and broader) are needed.
Toward that end, I wish the column had promoted something like the carbon fee and dividend plan espoused by Citizen’s Climate Lobby, for instance. The fee would increase the cost of fossil fuels (stay with me now), thereby nudging people to conserve or consider cleaner alternatives. The dividend part is what would serve well the citizens of Montgomery County. The money collected from heavy users of fossil fuels, like industry, would return more money to most individual consumers than they would pay in increased fuel fees in the first place. Thus, our citizens who can’t afford electric vehicles, and who must drive larger distances due to residing in outlying areas, will not be economically disadvantaged as we move to a carbon-neutral economy.
I welcomed Smilie’s point about the shortcomings of battery power due to the limited availability of lithium. Electric vehicles are not a panacea. The ecological impact of lithium mining and its geopolitical implications have long been concerns of mine. Do we want to one day be fighting over lithium like we currently fight over oil? On the other hand, the discussion of fuel-cell technology, while interesting on a theoretical level, seems to be of little use at present as we routinely face dire climate catastrophes. I advocate that we embrace a path of simplicity and sustainability rather than the consumerist one we are on. We need to begin again serious discussions of how to equitably reign in both our consumption and our sheer numbers. No amount of technological efficiency will offset the unsustainable pressure we are putting on the only planet we have.
Mark Frank
Crawfordsville
