Trade rules can improve climate

A recent article (“China manufactures too much”; April 27) raises important concerns regarding global trade imbalances. However, more needs to be said on how global trade could be used to address climate change.

Last October the European Union began implementation of a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), legislation that applies a fee based on the carbon intensity of goods coming into the EU.

This fee, for products such as aluminum, cement, steel and fertilizers, will incentivize non-EU countries to develop cleaner manufacturing processes while collecting revenue for the EU’s decarbonization goals. It will also ensure that those efforts are not undermined by production being relocated to countries with less ambitious policies, something called “carbon leakage.”

But CBAMs are not just an EU initiative. They are in the process of being adopted around the world, and products with a higher carbon intensity, such as steel from China and India, will soon cost more in the global market. Conversely, widespread CBAM implementation will give countries with cleaner industry standards, such as the U.S., a more competitive “carbon advantage,” something we have not been able to capitalize on until now. (On average, the U.S. economy is almost 50% less carbon intensive than the rest of the world. The Chinese economy is more than three times as carbon intensive as the U.S., and India is almost four times as carbon intensive.)

Talk concerning CBAMs and their ability to level the playing field between American and foreign goods — not to mention the benefits in reducing carbon — has gotten politicians’ attention on both sides of the aisle. The PROVE-IT Act, for example, was introduced by a Democrat and Republican senator and requires the Department of Energy to study and compare the carbon emissions of U.S. products vs. other countries’ and create a database so we can negotiate effectively with trading partners that use CBAMs. This is the kind of market leverage that will create a ripple effect in global trade, pushing countries like China, that have used dirty manufacturing to flood the market, to clean up their act if they want their products to be competitive.

Suzannah Ciernia

White River Junction

Read up on Israel and Palestinians

Students all over the country, all over the world and here on the Dartmouth campus are protesting the deadly violence in Gaza. It’s been over seven months since the Oct. 7 attacks, and I begin to wonder, reading quotes and hearing sound bites from students, faculty and other folks, what knowledge, if any, has been acquired since those attacks, beginning with the nature of the attacks. (Do we remember what exactly happened on Oct. 7, 2023?)

As a retired college professor who taught a first-year research course in which students were expected to back up their arguments with evidence, I am frustrated by what I read and hear because it shows so little nuance. How many have read the Wikipedia page on Israel and Gaza? That’s not research, but it’s at least a place to start. I am especially frustrated with terrible analogies that are being made between current protests and past ones. The current student protests deploring the violence in Gaza are being lumped together as “antisemitic” and racist. The reality is that protestors denouncing Israeli violence include non-Israeli Jews, Israeli Jews, and people of all races and religions who want peace in the region.

The history of Israel is a complicated one, so it’s no surprise that a protest that questions decades-long Israeli policies regarding the Palestinians should also be complicated. Let’s start reading, shall we?

Annabelle Cone

Lebanon

‘Journalism at its best’

My hat is off to Tris Wykes for describing Paddy Mooney’s role in helping Mary Anne Sculley in her time of need (“ ‘A true gentleman’ pitches in”; May 4).

While changing a tire on Sculley’s car, Mooney saw that she struggled to speak and was breathing heavily. Mooney’s subsequent actions got Sculley to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center where she was found to be suffering from pneumonia and sepsis. This may well have saved her life, because sepsis can swiftly lead to organ failure and death.

The article paints a word picture of a solid and decent young man of character, with appraisals from his family, Sculley’s physician son, Lebanon hockey coach and athletic director. The article is journalism at its best, and I am sharing it with grandchildren and their parents for both content and writing.

Joseph S. Warner

Unity

Protests lack clarity

I am disappointed that protests at Dartmouth and other colleges are delivering garbled messages about what to do about the situation in Israel and Gaza. The right to peacefully protest, free speech, police interventions, and the preservation of campus order are important issues but pale in comparison to the tragedies in the Middle East. Rather than feeding partisan politicians and media outlets with fodder for outrage, let’s find a way to unite with one clear message.

Can we agree to hold dear the right of Palestinians and Israelis to live in peace with full human rights? Can we agree that the terrorism of Hamas and the innocents’ deaths in Gaza must stop?

When we agree on such fundamentals, then we should be able to agree on a national policy with components such as a ceasefire in Gaza, a Palestinian state, acceptance of Israel, condemnation of terrorism and full rights and protections for Palestinians living in the West Bank.

For protestors to promote such an agreement, they must focus on demanding a ceasefire and Palestinian rights while clearly rejecting antisemitic, anti-Israeli or pro-Hamas messaging.

David Allen

White River Junction