Paul Krugman:Colorless Green Ideas

[cal04]

The factual debate about whether global warming is real is, or at least should be, over. The question now is what to do about it.

Aside from a few dead-enders on the political right, climate change skeptics seem to be making a seamless transition from denial to fatalism. In the past, they rejected the science. Now, with the scientific evidence pretty much irrefutable, they insist that it doesn’t matter because any serious attempt to curb greenhouse gas emissions is politically and economically impossible.

Behind this claim lies the assumption, explicit or implicit, that any substantial cut in energy use would require a drastic change in the way we live. To be fair, some people in the conservation movement seem to share that assumption.

But the assumption is false. Let me tell you about a real-world counterexample: an advanced economy that has managed to combine rising living standards with a substantial decline in per capita energy consumption, and managed to keep total carbon dioxide emissions more or less flat for two decades, even as both its economy and its population grew rapidly. And it achieved all this without fundamentally changing a lifestyle centered on automobiles and single-family houses.

The name of the economy? California.



http://wealthyfrenchman.blogspot.com/2007/02/colorless-green-ideas.html

[Maat]

1. I'm proud of my California!

I'm working to get more solar panels installed now! Currently, the pool runs off of solar energy.

Now, if we can just get universal coverage out here! We're working on it!

[antigop]

2. Good luck on universal coverage,Maat! n/t

[Maat]

3. Thanks ..

my one gripe about the Kuel bill is that we need an exemption for individual contractors, for it is unreasonable for them to pay the 11.5% (they are already paying both ends of the social security tax, etc.)(each one would pay the employee-3% plus the employer-8.5%). So, I'm talking with her office. An exemption for firms of 2-3 people would be make the plan do-able.

Thoughts?

[antigop]

4. I'll admit I'm not entirely familiar with Kuehl's bill but....

that may be a bit steep as you say.

[Maat]

5. Exactly.

There has to be some way to make it realistic, though; my activist buddies and I are working on it!

[antigop]

6. I really hope you can get Kuehl's bill passed this year

And if you do, guess where I'm moving?

[Maat]

7. Thanks!

And I'll be there to personally welcome a fine progressive like yourself when you migrate!

Take care!

Onward!

[applegrove]

8. Way to go California!