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> its entirely unconvincing to say society must reduce our standard of living by force when you won't do it voluntarily. I think that "reducing standards of li

by kanox 6y ago

> its entirely unconvincing to say society must reduce our standard of living by force when you won't do it voluntarily. I think that "reducing standards of living by force" is an extremist position and it's unhelpful to even bring it up. Switching electricity generation and transport towards renewables can have large impacts on CO2 emissions with very low impact on standards of living. Carbon taxes would raise some bills but the effect is much less than (for example) stopping air conditioning.

rayiner 6y ago
> I think that "reducing standards of living by force" is an extremist position and it's unhelpful to even bring it up. We're already doing that. But it's not close to being enough. Emissions need to be halved by 2030 to keep to 1.5C warming: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-emissions/emissions-need-to-be-halved-to-avoid-3c-warming-scientists-idUSKCN1TK0WM https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-emissions/.... The recent economic shut-down from Covid-19 cut U.S. emissions by just 1/3 for one week in April: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/05/19/coronavirus-has-caused-whopping-17-drop-global-carbon-emissions/5219885002 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/05/19/corona....
rhino369 6y ago
Waiting until green energy is cost efficient is certainly a position on climate change, but it's not one that climate activists typically take. A carbon tax that doesn't raise cost much is not going to have much effect. Though that depends on how you interpret "much." If you double energy cost, upper middle class folks won't change their thermostat, but work class folks won't be able to afford to turn on their AC.
- JamesBarney 6y ago
  > Though that depends on how you interpret "much." If you double energy cost, upper middle class folks won't change their thermostat, but work class folks won't be able to afford to turn on their AC. Most plans I've seen that involve an energy tax involve moving that money back to the working class via reduced taxes or rebates.

by kanox 6y ago

rayiner 6y ago

> I think that "reducing standards of living by force" is an extremist position and it's unhelpful to even bring it up. We're already doing that. But it's not close to being enough. Emissions need to be halved by 2030 to keep to 1.5C warming: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-emissions/emissions-need-to-be-halved-to-avoid-3c-warming-scientists-idUSKCN1TK0WM https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-emissions/.... The recent economic shut-down from Covid-19 cut U.S. emissions by just 1/3 for one week in April: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/05/19/coronavirus-has-caused-whopping-17-drop-global-carbon-emissions/5219885002 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/05/19/corona....

rhino369 6y ago

Waiting until green energy is cost efficient is certainly a position on climate change, but it's not one that climate activists typically take. A carbon tax that doesn't raise cost much is not going to have much effect. Though that depends on how you interpret "much." If you double energy cost, upper middle class folks won't change their thermostat, but work class folks won't be able to afford to turn on their AC.

JamesBarney 6y ago
> Though that depends on how you interpret "much." If you double energy cost, upper middle class folks won't change their thermostat, but work class folks won't be able to afford to turn on their AC. Most plans I've seen that involve an energy tax involve moving that money back to the working class via reduced taxes or rebates.