i think pollies need to realise that to discourage use, a tax is not an effective method.
like the GST - who avoids buying a hot chook to avoid paying GST?
like the GST - who avoids buying a hot chook to avoid paying GST?
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
I think it's a big enough risk to warrant doing something about. It may be that the Earth can handle 1000ppmv comfortably and we can go on our merry way (although I seriously doubt it...). However, two points are still worth noting:
1) Done properly, the cost of reducing emissions isn't all that great if we just change what we tax. If the effort that currently went into "tax minimisation" could be diverted into CO2 emissions, just imagine the results! And absolutely an ETS will drive all the wrong behaviours...
2)There are added long term benefits for our long term energy, water and environmental security in tackling these problems ASAP. You are well aware of the link between oil and food prices - I don't want to live in a world where a permanent oil shock drives up the cost of food to revolutionary / military levels. We need to do what we can to develop alternatives and a cost on carbon is a key component of establishing that market.
By the way, getting away from the hysterics of Australian journalists and the folly of the ETS currently on the table, you may be interested in this joint statement from the UK MetOffice, the Royal Society and their Natural Environment Research Council. These organisations are very conservative and not known for making outlandish public claims on any subject. Strikes me as a comprehensive summary of the current state of the science...
i think pollies need to realise that to discourage use, a tax is not an effective method.
like the GST - who avoids buying a hot chook to avoid paying GST?
And it's even easier to let someone else fix the problem for you.....Unfortunately it's much easier to be a skeptic that to consider changing your habits.
Technology is changing everything constantly, it's changing things exponentially faster than ever before. Anything we do today will be dwarfed by what technology change will achieve for us next year.IF YOU had $150 million to spend on boundary-busting energy research, where would you put the cash? The US Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy has committed that amount this year, with one lofty aim: to transform the planet's energy future.
....
And it's even easier to let someone else fix the problem for you.....
US bets $150m on high-risk renewable energy
Technology is changing everything constantly, it's changing things exponentially faster than ever before. Anything we do today will be dwarfed by what technology change will achieve for us next year.
I'm not sure the GST is a good comparison.
a carbon tax is a simple, effective way to rise the cost of carbon burners. This money can then be used to fund research into cleaner forms of energy production.
It would be ideal if we had renewable energy being cheaper than coal-fired energy production. Unfortunately it won't happen overnight.
Given the right incentives, it will happen sooner though.
Cheers,
it's safer to believe in god than not, because on one side you could die and nothing happen. on the other side, you could die and go to hell for eternity.
If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed. (Albert Einstein)
our recycle bin is the same size as our general waste bin. we stuff our recycle bin stupid, because it's emptied every fortnight, whereby general waste is emptied every week, of which the bin is lucky to be half full.
if the local council would swap this around, there'd be a lot more recycling, because people would be forced to think about it.
this would make more change to the planet than me paying another tax on my general waste disposal, wouldn't it....?
wouldn't it....?
Found this artical about the Emissions Trading Scheme.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/inconvenient-truth-its-a-high-price-for-nothing-20091123-j0xb.html
Just some more food for thought!
our recycle bin is the same size as our general waste bin. we stuff our recycle bin stupid, because it's emptied every fortnight, whereby general waste is emptied every week, of which the bin is lucky to be half full.
if the local council would swap this around, there'd be a lot more recycling, because people would be forced to think about it.
this would make more change to the planet than me paying another tax on my general waste disposal, wouldn't it....?
wouldn't it....?
a lot of the 'recycling' that is collected is dumped as landfill, especially since the GFC took a grip, so it probably doesn't matter when or how much they collect
It could be argued that the glacial pace is speeding up exponentially .... it took 10,000 years to get from wood to coal, 1000 yrs to oil, 100 yrs to nuclear, 10 yrs to ?....Unfortunately the history of technology development in the power business is not good - a glacial pace in fact.
...and with the current political direction, you can add talk about ETS, convince the public about an ETS, convince the developed world to join in, etc to the start of that list. I agree that there aren't any easy answers (except coal status quo).First you have to have an idea
Then you have to prove it may work in a lab
Then you have to build a demonstration scale
Then you have to go out in the field on a pre-commercialisation scale
Then you have to find a way to finance a commercial scale project with a technology that has no track record.
Then you have to convince people that with only five years of track record they should buy your new technology.
Then you have to roll it out en masse across the globe...
My poison is to throw money at R&D today . Slap a tax on carbon based electricity & oil to pay for it.If we want new technology development from the private power sector we have to provide a long term market for low emission technologies that recognises the cost of the status quo. A price on carbon is a key component of that. Without either that or massive (orders of magnitude above existing) R&D expenditure in the energy sector from all countries we are doomed to maintain the status quo. Pick your poison!
My poison is to throw money at R&D today . Slap a tax on carbon based electricity & oil to pay for it.
Unfortunately it's much easier to be a skeptic that to consider changing your habits.
Cheers,
Actually HK (household) recycling is a sop to the masses. Like a little rum for the sailors before they take on the Spanish Amarda, it is designed to make you feel good. No way are they going to tell the suckers what is REALLY ahead. Where I live we send the material thousands of Ks south on diesel burning semi's at high cost. But everyone feels good about it. When money gets tight they take it to the tip anyway.Good point about the recycle bins.
Where I live, the recycle bins are twice a big as the waste bin.
It gives people a message than there should be more recycling than waste.
It's one of those little things that make a difference.
Cheers,
what we do wont make a jot of diff. Defeatist but true. (unless of course we adopted my nuclear plan that I have outlined before)
Snap I think I have the answer.... Clean Coal!!! ha ha ha That's like locarb beer and diet pavalova.
HiEquity said:keithj said:My poison is to throw money at R&D today . Slap a tax on carbon based electricity & oil to pay for it.
Then we agree...
Not as hard as fixing the problem though ...Actually it bloody hard being a scepic.
So next time you want to dump on a sceptic accept that we are caring citizens who want a better future too. We want to do it differently though.