The SanDisk headquarters on Jan. 30 in Milpitas. The company issued a forward outlook far above analyst expectations, reinforcing investor optimism tied to strong pricing and rising AI-driven data center demand. A letter writer suggests that AI companies that pollute the environment with carbon in its data center operations pay a fee that would reimburse citizens.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Regarding “San Francisco’s climate change goals don’t account for the AI boom” (Opinion Open Forum, SFChronicle.com, March 27): Author Michael Redmond is absolutely correct that San Franciscans cannot be complacent about the climate harm that our city’s newest financial engine, Artificial Intelligence, is causing.
The answer, as with all fossil fuel emissions, is blindingly obvious: put a steadily rising fee on carbon when it comes out of the ground or across the border and send all the proceeds as equal monthly checks to all U.S. residents.
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This fee and dividend policy or “carbon cash back” will incentivize AI data centers to seek out the lowest carbon sources of electricity while compensating the rest of us whenever they choose dirty carbon sources instead.
Tell your representative and your senators that you want polluters to compensate you for their harm to the climate.
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Chris Chidsey, San Francisco
No ‘license for life’
Regarding “West Portal crash: S.F. judge sentences driver who killed family of 4 to probation,” (Bay Area/San Francisco, SFChronicle.com, March 20): I was astounded to learn that to renew my driver’s license at age 82, I only have to show up at the DMV for a vision test and photo. This is true for any driver over 70. No written or actual on-road driving test is required.
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Most of the recent articles in the Chronicle concerned with the West Portal incident in which a 79-year-old driver killed a family of four, have dealt with the aftermath of the driver’s sentence.
Maybe it makes sense to verify practical driving ability before an accident. If one gets a license at 18, should this mean the on-road capability of driving is verified for life?
Kathie Piccagli, San Francisco
Switch to EV
Now would be a good time to liberate yourself from the grips of gasoline.
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I’m privileged to own my home and am therefore able to own rooftop solar. So I pay nothing in fuel costs. How would you like to never stop at a gas station again, unless you want to buy junk food?
I did have to pay for the solar panels but they have paid for themselves already. When I first got my electric car, before I had my charger installed, I had to go to the public chargers and even then, a full charge cost a fraction of what a full tank of gas would.
I know our future selves will look back in disbelief that we stayed with that old dinosaur technology for so long, that so harms the world and stinks and is so loud. Not to mention carcinogenic.
I’ve read that, because of EVs, our air quality is improving toward where it was during the pandemic when not many people were driving. Considering how many people are killed by air pollution every year in the U.S., that is a huge societal win. If you’ve ever been to a third world country that doesn’t have the kind of air quality regulations that we have, you’ll know how precious clean air is to breathe.
I have to say, I love my EV even more than I thought I would. Make the leap. You’ll be glad you did.
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Will only get worse
Regarding “California gas prices could soar above $7 a gallon, expert says,” (U.S. & World/California, SFChronicle.com, March 11): The price of regular gasoline in Gualala, along the Mendocino coast, is $6.19 a gallon. A gallon!
This is a community of roughly 2,000 people. I have a house there. Luckily, I’m retired and on a good pension. But the poor people who live and work there are suffering, along with the rest of the United States.
And so is the rest of the world. This is thanks to President Donald Trump and his Israeli cohort Benjamin Netanyahu. And, of course, Trump’s sorry administration and Republican puppets in Congress.
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Ridiculous and disgusting. And for what? To feed Trump’s ego?
Obviously, the world is not happy with America and neither am I.
So much for MAGA and Trump’s idiotic agenda.
Guest opinions in Open Forum and Insight are produced by writers with expertise, personal experience or original insights on a subject of interest to our readers. Their views do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Chronicle editorial board, which is committed to providing a diversity of ideas to our readership.
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Unfortunately, we have two plus more years of this lunacy to deal with.