If you guessed “Warmists should give up use of fossil fuels, air conditioning, ice makers, hair dryers, DVRs, smartphones, computers, and should walk/bike to work, only buy local, plant their own gardens, line dry their clothes, and just go completely carbon neutral in order to show non-believers that they’re serious and believe what they say”, well, um, no. Usually one can say “this is Salon, of course they’re nuts.” But, this is typical of all Warmists
Blueprint for saving the world: Why the solution to global warming is staring us right in the face
Washington remains unable to do anything about climate change. Here’s how to finally change that
(yammer about the coming climate march Sunday which will have a massive carbon footprint and surely leave lots and lots of trash)
Yet what needs to be the march’s largest contingent may be nearly invisible amid the throng: citizens insisting that a carbon tax be the centerpiece of American and, ultimately, global action on climate. My Carbon Tax Center will be present, under a banner urging a tax on dirty energy, but we’re a small research clearinghouse, and not widely known. The Citizens Climate Lobby will be out in force promoting its “fee and dividend†program to tax carbon emissions and distribute the proceeds pro rata to U.S. households ― an arrangement designed to protect lower- and middle-income Americans without directly involving government. But adherents of carbon taxing remain a niche within the climate movement. And while recent polls indicate rising support for climate action and even for carbon taxes, the same polls show the climate issue lacking the urgency that wins elections and drives legislation.
See? It’s so simple. A carbon tax will cure all, and magically put money back in the pockets of citizens after their cost of living skyrockets.
The motivating logic for a carbon tax is as elegant as it is powerful: Making emitters pay for their carbon pollution is the only way to bring the climate damage caused by burning coal, oil and natural gas within the arc of the decision-making that determines how much of those fuels society uses. Without a tax on carbon emissions, alternatives won’t dislodge fossil fuels from their central position in world energy supply — or at least not fast enough to keep climate change from spiraling out of control.
OK, so a good chunk of those attending the climate march should pay a penalty for using fossil fuels to travel to the march.
Humanity is now in its third century of cheap fossil fuels driving industrialization and energizing human progress — a process that enriched Europeans and North Americans and has begun lifting Asians out of poverty as well. For most of this era, the “market failure†by which carbon pollution went unpriced was of little consequence. Only in recent decades has worldwide combustion of coal, oil and gas pushed the volume of carbon dioxide suspended in earth’s atmosphere high enough to elevate the greenhouse effect from a textbook truth to a veritable Cloud of Damocles.
Sooooooo, fossil fuels are wonderful at lifting people out of poverty? Then why should we get rid of them? Oh, right, taxes. More money in government hands to redistribute (or not) as they see fit. I do like that in this article it’s only the last few decades, rather than since the Industrial Revolution began. Unfortunately, there has been no statistically significant warming in the last 18 years.
Lest one thinks that Warmists are out of ideas, think again. This is one of the Main Ideas, taxing and (supposedly) redistributing, which gives Government more power over the lives of citizens, private entities, and economies. As well as puts more money in Government coffers. And makes citizens more beholden to Government, which supposedly will send them some money to help them out.
Read: Can You Guess What The Blueprint Is For Saving The World From Climate Hell? »
