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How about this proposal - Carbon tax. Over 30 years it scales up to the cost of carbon-scrubbing. All of the tax collected goes to purchasing scrubbing (within

How about this proposal - Carbon tax. Over 30 years it scales up to the cost of carbon-scrubbing. All of the tax collected goes to purchasing scrubbing (within the US only, and monitored for accountability).

fallingfrog 8y ago
2 reasons that won’t work. 1) carbon scrubbing is a boondoggle and 2) we have 10 years, 15 at most to completely decarbonize, not 30.
- alexandercrohde 8y ago
  That's such a counterproductive thing to say. You're basically shooting down the best plan mentioned because you think it isn't strict enough. Why not say "Great idea. Maybe once it gets enacted we can set the timeline even tighter." You shouldn't infight when you're in the 5% minority, you're just weakening your team.
  - fallingfrog 8y ago
    The market's not going to fix this one. Imagine if we tried CFC taxes and incentives for recapture to fix the hole in the ozone layer? You'd be wearing a lot more sunscreen. The answer is good old fashioned "make a plan and carry it out". Don't know why that's so hard to do anymore. Build the infrastructure to replace it, with public money, and then ban it.
205guy 8y ago
How about putting it much more simply: you can either change to reduce your carbon usage across the board (and help everyone else to understand and do the same) or your children will suffer by your own fault.
- alexandercrohde 8y ago
  That's a terrible non-solution. Your strategy is to hope that every single person independently chooses to reduce carbon usage? It has to be government mandated. And most of the carbon is by COMPANIES not individuals.
  - 205guy 8y ago
    That may work in China (maybe), but I'm afraid it doesn't stand a chance in the US--probably still the biggest CO2 emitter overall and certainly the highest per capita. No, my strategy is to spread this message far and wide, and encourage others to do so too, until hopefully enough people are convinced and choose to do so. I kinda went overboard with the comments on this one article, but I was inspired. Sometimes I wonder if turning carbon-piety into a religion (or vice versa) would be the way to go. After all, the way I see it, the defining characteristic of US conservatives, who generally oppose individual actions and government mandates to reduce carbon, is religiousness. "Forgive me father for I have flown in an airplane again this month."

fallingfrog 8y ago

2 reasons that won’t work. 1) carbon scrubbing is a boondoggle and 2) we have 10 years, 15 at most to completely decarbonize, not 30.

alexandercrohde 8y ago
That's such a counterproductive thing to say. You're basically shooting down the best plan mentioned because you think it isn't strict enough. Why not say "Great idea. Maybe once it gets enacted we can set the timeline even tighter." You shouldn't infight when you're in the 5% minority, you're just weakening your team.
- fallingfrog 8y ago
  The market's not going to fix this one. Imagine if we tried CFC taxes and incentives for recapture to fix the hole in the ozone layer? You'd be wearing a lot more sunscreen. The answer is good old fashioned "make a plan and carry it out". Don't know why that's so hard to do anymore. Build the infrastructure to replace it, with public money, and then ban it.

205guy 8y ago

How about putting it much more simply: you can either change to reduce your carbon usage across the board (and help everyone else to understand and do the same) or your children will suffer by your own fault.

alexandercrohde 8y ago
That's a terrible non-solution. Your strategy is to hope that every single person independently chooses to reduce carbon usage? It has to be government mandated. And most of the carbon is by COMPANIES not individuals.
- 205guy 8y ago
  That may work in China (maybe), but I'm afraid it doesn't stand a chance in the US--probably still the biggest CO2 emitter overall and certainly the highest per capita. No, my strategy is to spread this message far and wide, and encourage others to do so too, until hopefully enough people are convinced and choose to do so. I kinda went overboard with the comments on this one article, but I was inspired. Sometimes I wonder if turning carbon-piety into a religion (or vice versa) would be the way to go. After all, the way I see it, the defining characteristic of US conservatives, who generally oppose individual actions and government mandates to reduce carbon, is religiousness. "Forgive me father for I have flown in an airplane again this month."