Now that the Cap & Trade bill is starting to move through the Washington maze the anti- Cap & Trade propaganda machine is kicking into high gear to sow confusion in the public’s mind. Everyone who’s been watching the entire climate change debate is very familiar with the idea that these “anti everything that the conservatives didn’t introduce to the public” proponents are very skilled at instilling doubt by confusing the public with misinformation.
The Cap & Trade system for reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a particularly easy concept to distort because most Americans have never heard of it.
During the last few weeks of debate I’ve noticed three concepts that they keep bringing up.
1) “It didn’t work in Europe so it won’t work here!”
There is no doubt that in order for a Cap & Trade system to work here in the US we will have to learn from the mistakes of the European system and make corrections.The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) launched in 2005, made two key mistakes: handing out too many permits which removed the requirement to buy them, and giving them to power plants for free.
Analysts say the utilities passed the price of carbon permits to consumers regardless of the fact that they received them for free, making billions of euros (dollars) in windfall profits across the sector as a result.
As a result of handing out too many permits the EU carbon price crashed to zero two years ago. A simple example of supply and demand. Excess supply, regardless of demand leads to falling prices of any commodity.
Arguably the EU ETS was a failed experiment but the failure has been thoroughly analyzed and should provide the basis for a better system.
2) “It will Lower our Standard of Living!”
This is an argument that is based totally in denial of the intent of the world’s leaders and scientists to help preserve the planet’s environment for future generations.
If “Lower Standard of Living” means turning off the lights in rooms you’re not using and driving a more fuel efficient vehicle then I guess they’re right. Every time I hear someone say that, what I really hear is “It won’t allow us to to continue to be so wasteful.”
The simple fact is that our western society’s consumerist “Keeping up with the Jones es”, “Bigger is ALWAYS Better” lifestyle isn’t sustainable by anyone’s calculations. There’s no doubt, it’s been a great ride but in order to keep going we need a new vehicle.
3) “It’s just another Tax!”
On this issue I’ll have to agree, Cap & Trade is a tax. The question is: What does it tax and why do we need it?
The only significant debate that continues about climate change is among politicians who refuse to believe ANYTHING “the other side” has to say, and the pseudo-scientists hired by the industries that stand to lose profits from reduced use of their products, primarily coal and oil. The serious scientific community is nearly unanimous in their acceptance of climate change brought on on excess greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that if we don’t lower our emissions our children and grandchildren will inherit an unpleasant environment.
There are a lot of analogies that describe our current situation so I’ll try a new one.
We just threw a huge party that got a little out of hand and some of us are starting to sober up. As we look around we can see that we have really trashed the place, and some of the partyers are still wrecking the place. The first thing we have to do stop the destruction, then figure out who’s going to clean it up.
If you’ve ever been in this sort of situation you’ll know that the people who did the most damage (had the most “fun”) are typically the ones who are least likely to take responsibility for their actions. Then you have the responsible people that will say: “Yeah I did that, I’ll clean it up.” Then you have the socially conscious few that didn’t make a mess but are still willing to help with the cleanup..
These are those sobering up days, they’re also the days of testing character. Are you part of the cleanup crew or will you keep partying until the house burns down?
This tax is the bill for the party. We’re the ones having the fun, we should all be willing to pay our fair share.
May 26th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Hi Dan,
I just viewed some of your writings and you seem as though you are a definite voice we would like to have heard on CSRwire. I’m not sure how familiar you are with our website, but if you follow this link you will see where we have our current blog posted: http://www.csrwire.com/csrlive/commentary. If you have a minute to read our latest piece it will probably give you a feel for what we look for in a blog. All that we require to post a blog (in addition to the blog itself) is a picture and a brief bio about yourself to be placed at the end of the blog. So long as the blog is in keeping within the purview of Corporate Social Responsibility, really any specific subject is perfectly acceptable, though precedence is often given to highly topical subjects; i.e. a blog about the financial crisis might be posted prior to a more general blog about green building or SRI, etc. We always offer to post our writers’ blog as a press release in addition to on our website: it would then get distributed to all our readers as well as our syndicated partners that host our news (a service free for you but costs our clients $495 per release). And of course we link back to any company webpages or sites that regularly host your blog.
So, if you feel as though you have a piece you’d like us to take a look at, please just let me know.
Best Regards,
Kendra Sibilia
Media Coordinator
May 28th, 2009 at 6:54 am
Yes, I partied, yes, I made a mess, yes I will help clean up and please give me my portion of the bill. It’s time TreeBanker and I stand behind you to begin to make it happen.