Kudos, Jeff MacIntyre, for timely advice on remaining open to a political opponent’s views lest we miss out on opportunity.
There has never been a more crucial time for all to be honestly curious and positive about the best ways to cool our planet.
A case in point is the current maligning of a price on carbon by some political leaders. A quick search of top, apolitical, expert sources such as Stanford University reveals that as a key element in a climate action plan, deserves the highest of merit. It simply works at substantially reducing carbon emissions at modest economic costs that are offset by the avoided costs of climate damage, including health savings from reduced air pollution.
How this works is elegant yet simple. It starts with a carbon tax applied on oil and gas, the carbon products, when they first come out of the ground. This forces the producer to either avoid paying the carbon price by passing it on to customers; by avoiding the higher cost in the first place through efficiencies; or by shifting to producing clean energy such as solar. As the higher cost of carbon-based products makes its way through the entire economy, everyone shifts toward efficiency and clean products.
Of course, money concerns during this transition matters. A government would be wise to heed the results of a new study by leading economists detailed in Nature: return, by law, the money collected to households. It’s a smart way of alleviating money concerns.
The conservative in me also cheers the fact that a price on carbon requires little government involvement. No monitoring. No enforcing. Just collect and return the money to the people. I welcome hearing about better plans. So far, nothing’s been proposed.
Carole Lavallée
Chelmsford