So I have tried to flog a little mini doco called The Story of Stuff for a while now and if you have not seen it yet please do… it’s relevance will be around for too long I think.
But the hot topic at the moment is Cap & Trade or some variation of that. At first I thought it was a very good idea or at least a good place to start. Now I am pretty sure it is not a good idea and fear that it might in fact be a very bad idea. I would love to hear your thoughts but first please watch the video Cap & Trade, made by the same guys that made The Story of Stuff.
http://www.vimeo.com/7908590
Underneath all the anti-market sentiment is just one valid criticism – bogus offsets.
Otherwise, giving away permits does not affect the cap itself. The global injustice concern appears to be inserted as a generic anti-capitalism statement. Why should a climate solution be ‘just’ when s much else in this world is not? If it’s that hard to reduce inequality and injustice, and so hard to do anything about climate change, what is the probability of attacking both concerns in one shot? Pretty slim I say.
From my experience in water planning (we do cap and trade schemes, so do fisheries, and real property itself is a naturally capped trading scheme – they are not some Enron scam, they are government administered, the same as a greenhouse gas trading scheme) and they are by far more effective than any of our traditional regulations.
Anyway, that’s my 2 cents.
Hello Muz… love your blog.
In a sense I agree on your point about ‘attaching both concerns in one shot’ and normally I would totally agree with you that the chances of success are pretty slim. But this time I think the concern that you cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that created it is also valid. I also think that it is overdue for us to start asking more of ourselves. Just when are we going to dare to be great.
There is also the idea that maybe we won’t be able to solve the climate challenge until we can overcome these foundational problems that have allowed us to let things get so bad.