4 ms·

Just advocate for a carbon tax and be done with it. Don't arbitrarily decide which industries get to stay and which ones have to go. You ban air travel and sud

Just advocate for a carbon tax and be done with it. Don't arbitrarily decide which industries get to stay and which ones have to go. You ban air travel and suddenly people cover a big chunk of the difference with mass driving, causing significantly more deaths and increased CO2. (Remember: Southwest's most popular route is Dallas<->Houston which is drive-able)

jrockway 6y ago
A train between Houston and Dallas would be practical: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Central_Railway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Central_Railway I think the biggest blocker on high speed rail is being able to get places once you arrive, without a car. The Northeast Corridor works because you can get anywhere in New York, Boston, and DC with public transportation once you arrive. A lot of cities with intercity train service don't really have that option, so you end up driving to the train station, taking the train, and renting a car at your destination. At that point, you might as well fly because the steps are the same, but it's faster. Sure, you can tax carbon, especially passenger automobiles... but you will cause a much larger recession than Coronavirus as people suddenly can't afford to go to work anymore. The country was built on cheap driving. It has a disastrous climate impact, but it's too established to just will out of existence. It is a tough situation, which is why nothing is being done. (We can't even get our train tunnel between New York and New Jersey repaired, and that brings 200,000 people to and from work everyday.)
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- Wowfunhappy 6y ago
  > Sure, you can tax carbon, especially passenger automobiles... but you will cause a much larger recession than Coronavirus as people suddenly can't afford to go to work anymore. What you do is give the proceeds of the carbon tax back to the populace, as Canada is doing. There may be some hardship, but it should mostly work out—on the whole, the rich create more carbon than the poor, so wealth will be redistributed to the more vulnerable. That last quality is also likely why conservatives don't like these plans, but until they provide an alternative I don't see what else to do. ("Do nothing because climate change doesn't exist" is not an alternative.)
  - jrockway 6y ago
    I am not sure that works as well as you think it does. People don't live far away from work and commute 2 hours a day because they're rich. They do it because they can't afford to live near their workplace. I can walk to work, but pay $2700 a month in rent. Most people do not have that luxury. (OK, the Bay Area is different. Well-off people do commute two hours a day because there simply isn't any housing near where they work. I stayed in some corporate apartment in downtown Mountain View once and could bike to the office... but the apartment was going for something like $3500 a month for one bedroom. Just incredible.)
    - Wowfunhappy 6y ago
      Then they'll still drive to work and pay the tax. If everyone does that, there will be more money in the fund and so the rebate will be higher too. Now of course, if everyone just pays the tax and gets the rebate, there won't be much emissions impact. But over time, people will realize they can get ahead by buying smaller cars instead of SUVs, or carpooling, or lobbying their local governments for more public transit, or switching jobs.

jrockway 6y ago

A train between Houston and Dallas would be practical: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Central_Railway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Central_Railway I think the biggest blocker on high speed rail is being able to get places once you arrive, without a car. The Northeast Corridor works because you can get anywhere in New York, Boston, and DC with public transportation once you arrive. A lot of cities with intercity train service don't really have that option, so you end up driving to the train station, taking the train, and renting a car at your destination. At that point, you might as well fly because the steps are the same, but it's faster. Sure, you can tax carbon, especially passenger automobiles... but you will cause a much larger recession than Coronavirus as people suddenly can't afford to go to work anymore. The country was built on cheap driving. It has a disastrous climate impact, but it's too established to just will out of existence. It is a tough situation, which is why nothing is being done. (We can't even get our train tunnel between New York and New Jersey repaired, and that brings 200,000 people to and from work everyday.)

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
Wowfunhappy 6y ago
> Sure, you can tax carbon, especially passenger automobiles... but you will cause a much larger recession than Coronavirus as people suddenly can't afford to go to work anymore. What you do is give the proceeds of the carbon tax back to the populace, as Canada is doing. There may be some hardship, but it should mostly work out—on the whole, the rich create more carbon than the poor, so wealth will be redistributed to the more vulnerable. That last quality is also likely why conservatives don't like these plans, but until they provide an alternative I don't see what else to do. ("Do nothing because climate change doesn't exist" is not an alternative.)
- jrockway 6y ago
  I am not sure that works as well as you think it does. People don't live far away from work and commute 2 hours a day because they're rich. They do it because they can't afford to live near their workplace. I can walk to work, but pay $2700 a month in rent. Most people do not have that luxury. (OK, the Bay Area is different. Well-off people do commute two hours a day because there simply isn't any housing near where they work. I stayed in some corporate apartment in downtown Mountain View once and could bike to the office... but the apartment was going for something like $3500 a month for one bedroom. Just incredible.)
  - Wowfunhappy 6y ago
    Then they'll still drive to work and pay the tax. If everyone does that, there will be more money in the fund and so the rebate will be higher too. Now of course, if everyone just pays the tax and gets the rebate, there won't be much emissions impact. But over time, people will realize they can get ahead by buying smaller cars instead of SUVs, or carpooling, or lobbying their local governments for more public transit, or switching jobs.