The Shape of Things to Come

Gwynne Dyer had a very interesting article in today's Free Press (A11) that I had to share. In The Shape of Things to Come, he outlined how some countries are getting radical about climate change in a very doable way:

Here's the plan, Everybody in the country will get the same allowance for how much carbon dioxide they can emit each year, and every time they buy some product that involves carbon dioxide emissions - filling their car, paying their utility bills, buying an airline ticket - carbon points are deducted from their credit or debit cards. Like Air Mils, only in reverse.

So if you ride a bike everywhere, insulate your home, and don't travel much, you can sell your unused points back to the system. And if you use up your allowance before the end of the year, then you will have to buy extra points from the system.

This system is on the verge of becoming British government policy, and the environment minister is behind it 100%! Awesome!! It came about from the realization that:

A huge share of total emissions is driven by the decisions of individual consumers. Miliband [the environment minister] thinks that the least intrusive, most efficient way of shaping those decisions is to set up a system that track everybody's use of good and services that produce a lot of green house gases, and rewards the thrifty while imposing higher costs on the profligate.

Again, the most shocking part of this Green article was the pressing urgency for SOMETHING to be done. Dyer outlined that "the Arctic Ocean will be entirely ice-free in the summertime not in 2080, as previously suggested, but by 2040, just 33 years from now." It is important to remember that "Britain only produces two per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, so a 60 per cent cut in Britain alone is still only a drop in the bucket, but the aim is to set an example: See, we can do this without impoverishing ourselves, so other developed countries can to."

I think that the best part about this proposed system is that those who do not use all of their credits can sell them back to the system. Think about what this little bit of extra income could mean to low income folks barely surviving from check to check. Brilliant!

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On a personal note: Theatre by the River got into the Fringe! We were #54 out of 55 spots ... *sweating brow*. Time to get to work on The History of Theatre!