Quote:
Originally Posted by Hackey
How does making things more expensive help the environment though? You make everyone's cost of living higher which has real impact on people's lives and your emissions decrease by such an insignificant amount it has zero effect on the actual planet.
|
There is no climate solution that includes continued car-based living, cheap flying, grain-fed beef, gas cooking, unrecyclable plastics, ad infinitum.
Yes, about 100 corporations fuel about 70% of gas emissions. But those corporations treat you as a gas pump. Fill up on your money and keep pumping emissions.
Make personal changes in your life. Stop fueling the machine as much as you can. Money talks.
As for carbon taxes, they force industry to come up with greener technology or new methods to cut their emissions. Do they pass those costs on to the consumer? Probably. But then, they also pass their costs onto the consumer with other things, such as technology, overhead, and payroll. But now there is incentive to reduce greenhouse gas rather than ignore it. Additionally, Canadians will see carbon tax rebates - something that doesn't get mentioned often enough. Doing nothing already costs 10s of billions of dollars a year in Canada.
I think a good assessment of Canada's carbon tax can be found here, warts and all:
The Liberals are losing the carbon tax communication war
Early Estimate of National Emissions shows Canada steadily separating economic growth from emissions
I think, to assume, that improving environmental sustainability and with a willingness to tackle climate change doesn't include a cost on society would be naive. People have to want to help themselves.
If nothing else, tackling inflationary pressure actually helps on the individual level, which is what we are dealing with more than personal climate costs. Being more judicial in what you eat at the grocery store, driving less to save gas and walking/biking more, turning the heat down when not needed, planting gardens to grow your own food and letting the grass grow a bit longer, not taking expensive vacations that use jet fuel to get there . . . These things are making a difference even if you don't notice or pay attention.