Economists are not your friends

Nordhaus agrees that man-made Climate Change is happening—he is not a "Climate Change Denialist". However, his research actually encourages policymakers not to take the action that Extinction Rebellion demands, or anything like it. He instead recommends managing Global Warming so that the Earth's temperature will stabilize at 4 degrees above pre-industrial levels in the mid-22nd century

https://www.patreon.com/posts/climate-change-26594935 

If you chase after celebrities and billionaires, expect false "solutions"

CleanTechnica: "Musk made reference to the massive subsidies provided to fossil fuel companies every year, a number stated by the International Monetary Fund last year as more than $5 trillion a year. The solution, Musk said, is to place a price on carbon via a tax on greenhouse gas emissions or the carbon content of fuels."

Clean Technica has now confirmed it is a delayer site. It's job is to keep you chasing after false solutions to climate and energy. If you are confused, simply go to your high-school physics. Ask the teacher about the laws of thermodynamics. Economics is a social science. Created by man. It can be manipulated. But physics cannot. Don't look to celebrities and billionaires. Make buses fare-free. Carbon tax is easily faked. Don't fall for it.

Carbon tax, bad idea

Want to know how a carbon tax will work? Look at current taxes. Years to get approved, then laden with exceptions, then many loopholes found. Why would a carbon tax be different?

It is worse than that. A carbon tax CAN NOT work.

The price of carbon necessary to have a real effect would be too high. Corporations would correctly argue that the nation that implements it would harm its own ability to compete. A tax would have to international, with all the big powers at least.

A carbon tax addresses the supply-side of energy. It does nothing to discourage growth. By the laws of thermodynamics, humans, at current growth, will cook the planet regardless of what we burn. We need a demand-side solution.

We could at least stop wasting energy on autos and sprawl. Autos are consumer products which are unsuitable for a major transport system. They take up too much room and pollute before they turn a wheel. Sprawl, the partner of the auto, is the most wasteful way to live. Each house must have its own set of consumer products, there is no economy of scale from sharing that a city has.

Let's make cities a pleasant place to live. Start by getting rid of cars. Make buses free.

Why #freetransit is better than money in the bank

Carbon tax, cap and trade, cap and dividend.... these along with many other "solutions" for energy and climate are not as good as free public transit which:

• provides local jobs
• is transparent - can't be stolen by banksters
• gives immediate relief from autosprawl externalities
• connects jobless to jobs

Carbon trading, carbon tax, won't work. Here is why

Carbon market solutions to #climatechange are supply-side solutions.

The idea is that industry will gradually replace fossil-fuel energy sources. What is not said, is that the renewables are very low in net energy. This means the carbon price will have to be very high. Too high to become law at a rate that will have any effect. Consequently the increase in renewables will allow more growth, but not reduce fossil fuel use. Carbon credits earned by conservation will simply be added to the growth side, or traded to extend the life of another dirty industry.

What we need are demand-side solutions that are consistent with degrowth. What if the dollars put into implementing a carbon market scheme (imagine the legal costs!) were instead spent on free public transit. Cities would become more attractive, and many would move in and give up their car. As more did, there would be more political urgency about fixing urban life, and more money to do it, starting a virtuous circle.

Urban living, if comfortable, would lower the birth rate.

Carbon markets such as REDD and EU carbon pricing, have already proven problematic, if not downright destructive. Is the U.S. going to embark on an expensive, time-consuming mistake?

Carbon tax supported by oil-industry and its trolls -- should make you wonder

The best solution for climate change is a carbon tax | The Great Debate: "Despite its critics, a carbon tax has garnered broad support – even from unexpected places. Exxon Mobil’s chief executive has supported a carbon tax. Among conservatives, it has been supported by scholars at the American Enterprise Institute, former Congressman Bob Inglis (R-S.C.), Gregory Mankiw, an economic advisor to Mitt Romney’s campaign team, and Martin Feldstein, a top economist in Ronald Reagan’s administration."

'via Blog this'

Free Public Transit a better solution than #carbontax

OK, show of hands: how many people really think that a carbon tax will be implemented quickly, simply, and in a fair manner. Hmm. Thought so.

Free public transit is a solution that is working now. It is transparent. Everyone can see the benefits. As it gains critical mass, people will see more and more benefits. Even the corporate media will jump on the band wagon. The reduction in collision and congestion costs alone will replace the "lost" revenue. Then the alleviation of parking problems, pedestrian danger, and stress will be front page in the "today" press. There will be "human interest" stories about how people who never ride a bus benefit greatly.

It's the demand, stupid

Billions of people want to live in U.S.-style car-dependent sprawl. As long as this is true, the fossil-fuel industry will have power, lots of power.

Currently, the autosprawl system of human shelter and transport has critical mass. Because most people travel by car, the massive public investment in autosprawl infrastructure is seen as necessary.

We can break that critical mass. But only by addressing demand. A carbon tax would address demand. But it would be easy oppose. People would rightly expect it to be corrupt.

Instead, we should make public transit fare-free. The payback is immediate and greater than the "lost" revenue. Free transit is simple and easy to see. There are no complicated carbon-pricing indexes to be manipulated. And the myriad benefits are out in the open for all to see: less noise, less congestion, less parking problems, fewer collisions, lower medical costs, etc.

More importantly, fare-free transit would break the critical mass of the auto as transport. Autosprawl public "investment" would be seen for what it really is, subsidy.

NASA Goddard Director against Cap-and-Trade

...Vice President Al Gore, who perhaps has done more than anyone to raise awareness of climate change, is evidently deceiving himself. "I saw him on Larry King last night," says Hansen, "and what really worries me is that he sounds optimistic that we're now on a track to solve this problem." He lets out an incredulous chuckle. "We're not, however, on a track, and that's clear."...

..."There's a huge gap between their public position and the realities of their policies," he says. "That's the situation we have now in Congress," he adds, alluding to the cap-and-trade legislation that is currently being reviewed by the US Senate. He opposes the bill, in large part because of the offsets system that would allow polluters to continue spewing emissions, but also because political horse-trading has brought in provisions that will enable aging coal plants to stay in operation. The only solution, Hansen says, is to "phase out fossil fuels". And the best way to do that, he contends, is through a carbon tax — or, as he puts it, "a rising price on carbon emissions"....

...individuals cannot solve the problem. "If you reduce your carbon footprint, one of the effects is to reduce the demand, and if a lot of people do that, it makes [fossil fuel] cheaper so somebody else can burn it," says Hansen... nature.com

Over 12,900 Americans vote for free public transit

That's right. The people of Whidbey Island, WA, USA, are voting 54-45 % for a TAX INCREASE to keep their free bus system on the Island. The fossil-fuel trolls and the anti-tax crowd were unable to dissuade them. These wise people will get their money back many times over in return for their wisdom. Public investment is out there for everyone to criticize. But the true costs of the auto system, the annoying noise, parking problems, congestion, collisions, oil-wars, carbon emissions, etc., etc., are not publicly accounted and hence require a little thinking to understand. Congratulations to the wise people of Whidbey Island.

Here's an idea: Let Wall Street manage the biosphere.

NOT!

Carbon cap-and-trade is complicated... kind of like credit default swaps, and structured investment vehicles. It has been tried for years in the EU and there is a voluntary-cap exchange in the US. Guess what? NO PROGRESS. Twenty years from now we will be bailing out Goldman Sachs again when the carbon-market bubble bursts. Save this post and check back.

If you want to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions, do the following: join the movement for free public transit. Don't wait for national governments, the fossil-fuel industry has made sure to control them. But they can't control every municipality. Your town can implement free public transit for 60 basis points of tax. The benefits are immediate and you will get that money back many times over.

Listen to Elizabeth Warren on PublicRadio

see also Michael K. Dorsey in the LATimes