What can I add? I touch of Economics perhaps? It’s a right wing-science but (quasi)science all the same, so perhaps both sides can take something from it.
As rare as it may be I actually agree with Garg on the point about us moving on and humanity surviving. In fact, in another billion years the earth will still be here, spinning around the sun without a care for that blip in history when humans were around. And most likely we wont have made a hint of an effect on the earth of 1 billion years from now. Right Garg?
But this is another straw man. I dont really give a ���� about the earth of a billion years from now. I care about earth tomorrow, and especially about earth 20 years from now: when I want to go skiing, or take a vacation at the great barrier reef. If I cant go skiing anywhere, even Smithers (ever been to Smithers BC Garg? not exactly the palce for a nice ski holiday…) or if the great barrier reef has been bleached by acidified oceans in 20 years I’m going to be ticked!
So what’s the answer? Remake our civilization cold turkey? (Frimm) NO!
The answer is to treat is as we treat any other harm done by one to another (or in economics an “externality”) and disincentivize it.
If you really really want to take that Escalade-limo to the prom that’s fine! You have the RIGHT to do that. What you don’t have the right to do is drive on people’s lawns and crash into their cars on your way there. And actually, you kind of have the right to do that too, you just have to pay for it.
The same principle needs to apply to FOSSIL CO2 (not cows, not firewood.) Where if you want to use it you need to compensate those who are negatively affected by it. This raises the cost of doing it and will actually HELP us move to a place where we dont use fossil fuels any more (if we ever get there which is unlikely: plastic is AWESOME).
So a penalty for fossil fuels allows us to continue with our civilization as we have it, puts us on the correct path to technological development (where the technologies that harm people are more expensive and those that dont are less so) AND compensates those who are negatively effected by climate change.
Whaddya think G? Carbon tax it is!
You see Joel, I’m a CONSERVATIVE and I don’t believe in living high on the hog, piling up debt, and distorting the biosphere for our own selfish benefit while leaving our children to pay back all that debt for ���� they didnt use and live in a less diverse and habitable planet for oil they didnt burn. It’s just not fiscally/environmentally/intergenerationally responsible. ;-)
And you can add me to the list of solutions.