and she said.. "how you interpret the dream is probably more important than the dream itself"

Michael considered fate at 14:42 | Permalink | Post a Comment

Comment posted by

Anonymous @ 5/01/2008 9:50 PM:

Question, is there any actual reason to believe carbon trading will *reduce* energy usage? Doesn't it seem like we're just pushing our problem on some other poor bastard to assuage our culpability? Kinda like, instead of eating your peas, you spread them out over the whole plate, and it *seems* like you've gotten rid of them.
Taxing *emissions*. $40/ton, but that's just me.

Comment posted by

Michael @ 5/01/2008 11:19 PM:

Right, I completely agree with you. But that's just my point - the straught tax idea will never happen because industry wouldn't have it. The whole idea of a carbon credits system, on the other hand, is that it is in fact a system, which almost by definition can be corrupted. This is the politicians saying to big industry: "Look, we have this problem with the people whining about the environment, so here is a complex system that you can game while we look the other way and you can line our campaign coffers with gold-plated tinfoil."

Like, lots and lots of foamy bubbles. Really - that's a lot!

Like, yet another soon-to-be failure of a house bill on marijuana legalization sponsored by Barney Frank and Ronny Paul. Puff.. puff.. NOT PASSED.

One last thing: even the folks who said they thought the climate was in trouble over the last few years are saying they were wrong: it's much worse. Okay, I'm baiting. It's a London economist waxing on about the impending doom of a smoggy future, the consumer nations' over-reliance on coal, and the important part that carbon capture and sequestration will have to play if we expect to be breathing Earth's air in 2050. Blah, blah, blah, it's been said, heard, forgotten, and ignored before and it will be again. I do think one important point is made, though:

A global carbon trading system would be the "glue" for a worldwide climate deal

I've discussed carbon trading before and if you're familiar with my opinions on it then you know I think it is one more layer of complexity through which "mandated corruption" will proliferate. Nevertheless, I agree that there is potential for a worldwide system to act as a stepping stone towards adoption of other global initiatives, as well as collaboration across nations.