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I very much appreciate Rep. Raul Labrador’s guest opinion (June 27, 2017, Daily Bee) and his past actions and current encouragement to respectfully disagree about contentious issues rather than responding with violence. I couldn’t agree more, that focusing on others’ best intentions allows us to work together to achieve common goals to improve our country.

We all have a common goal of stewardship for our planet, a healthy environment for future generations to come, good job opportunities for all Americans, and keeping our country on the cutting edge of innovation. Political polarization has made climate change a highly divisive topic that has kept us from taking action. If we focus on each other’s best intentions we can actually move towards a solution.

A national policy of putting a price on carbon, to account for it’s true cost to society, funneling the proceeds back to families directly, and implementing a border tariff would drive the economy towards clean energy while increasing job opportunities and cleaning up the environment without increasing government regulation. My heart goes out for fossil fuel workers and communities who are out of work due to a market shift towards natural gas. We need our government to take more responsibility to bring clean energy jobs into areas that have been affected by decreasing fossil fuel demands. I encourage Representative Labrador to lobby for implementation of a carbon fee and dividend policy and support for businesses to bring jobs back into deprived areas that also contribute to stewardship for our planet and children.

Gabrielle Duebendorfer, ND

Sandpoint ID