Pete Kuntz’s letter “Carbonization Solutions” (3/15) ignores the fact that all our food is made of carbon and is produced, transported and refrigerated with energy from fossil fuels. A tax on carbon is a direct tax on food production, which means more hunger and a higher cost of living.

The correct way to get cheaper, cleaner energy is to ban all biofuel production, which is eroding our topsoil, increasing air and water pollution, killing off our friends the bees and keeping food prices artificially high. By reducing the cost of food, we can reduce food stamp use and thus lower budget deficits.

We should end all mandates and subsidies for incurably inefficient and unreliable wind and solar projects and put just 20 percent of the money saved into research to find a true replacement for fossil fuels.

It is mathematically provable that the only replacement possible is some form of safe nuclear power, which has the highest energy density of all sources and is capable of operating reliably 24/7/365, not just when the wind blows and the sun shines.

The most promising hope is simplified hot fusion technology that does not use expensive lasers, as does the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, which is a costly boondoggle. A number of private companies, including aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, have low-cost compact fusion designs they think they can get to work at reasonable cost.

All life is carbon based. A hysterical war on carbon is a war against living.

Christopher Calder 

Eugene