Re: 鈥淢unicipalities asked to explore climate suit,鈥� Jan. 11.
It occurs to me that the target of a lawsuit regarding fossil-fuel consumption is incorrect. Were tobacco farmers sued for all the health-care costs accrued from cigarettes? No, it was the cigarette manufacturers that were sued.
If there are to be lawsuits, target auto manufacturers for making internal-combustion-engine vehicles and also the United States federal government, which has for decades subsidized oil companies. Jimmy Carter put solar panels on the roof of the White House. Ronald Reagan removed them.
It is government that can tax consumption, as it does with cigarettes and alcohol (and carbon), and it is government that can choose to subsidize the research and development of clean energy such as wind, solar, etc. Norway, an oil-producing nation, has subsidized electric cars so strongly that about a third of all cars sold there in 2018 were fully electric plug-in models.
Municipalities should bark up the right tree if they truly want to have some influence in mitigating climate change.
Trevor Amon
Victoria
