Re: Ending CC Requires Ending Capitalism
Posted: Mon 25 Mar 2019, 15:14:32
Cog wrote:All other solutions I'm hearing here, rely on the overbearing and necessarily arbitrary judgment of humans. I trust the planet a lot more than humans to form that judgment.
But many of us would say destroying the biosphere for anything larger than a mouse, or perhaps a cockroach, is too high a price to pay.
If dealing with that requires some people to be "overbearing" and "arbitrary", that's unfortunate, but consuming all we can, even as it destroys the climate is arbitrary too, even if it fits into the mold of "don't bother me, I'm consuming all I can" that most people prefer.
You can have capitalism and taxes on destructive things. Those aren't mutually exclusive, so don't worry, I'm not suggesting ending capitalism. Just that we tax problematic consumption for the biosphere (like GHG production), not good things like productive work via income taxes.
Note: BOTH forms of taxation would tend to be progressive re higher level of income -- but higher income people who choose to live fairly green lives could have a very low rate of taxation, something I would think you would like.