A Carbon Tax?
It is a myth, and one that destroys the credibility of many "environmentalists", that there is any other significant source of "power", other than nuclear, besides the carbon fossil fuels that we have been using for less than three hundred years and are now on the downside of peak production. We have also come face to face with the blatant disregard of Capitalist Oil Companies, whose only interest is to maximize profits in the short run, with the BP/TransOceanic Gulf Oil Blowout.
A "carbon tax" is the wrong idea. People use carbon products for heating their homes and workplaces, cooking their food, and generating most of their electricity.
The major squanderer of fossil fuels is the personal automobile. USAers use over 15 MILLION BARRELS A DAY for personal transportation. We need to commit to rebuilding our neighborhoods and reallocating goods and services so that people can get what they need, including employment, within walking distance of their homes.
Setting a demand side management goal of reducing personal automobile usage by 80% in the next 20 to 40 years would go a long way towards assuring that more essential uses of carbon fuels will be a part of a viable future. It would also send a strong message to the rest of the world regarding the commitment of the USA to strongly curb their gluttonous behavior. Such a commitment could significantly assuage current geo-political tensions and hostilities.
A large tax on gasoline, maybe phased in over a period of ten years, is what is in order. Revenues from such taxes could help pay for the community redevelopment and reallocation of goods and services that needs to be a paramount goal of the USA. It would also significantly, discourage driving, while the people were educated to the reality that the automobile is a freak of the human race, and that the quality of community and domestic life would be substantially enhanced by encouraging a more sedentary lifestyle.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity,
Mike Morin
About Me
- Mike Morin
- I am a Friend. BS - Environmental Studies, Graduate and Life-long Study in Planning and Economics, MBA, have worked construction, real estate appraisal, health care cost and util. report systems developer, Director of Managed Care Contracting for hospital,farm work, farm fertilizer delivery, lumber yard/hardware and delivery, Small Business Development Center, taught Computer Methods, etc. fellowship for the last fifteen years studying and developing interests listed (in profile). have lived in Massachusetts (Boston area and Connecticut River Valley), New Hampshire, Vermont, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Connecticut. have lived in Eugene since 2000. Published Book on Cooperative Housing at the UMass Mgmt. Research Center in 1980. Wrote and Self-Published, sold and distributed book entitled Who is George Fox and Why Should I Care? (published 1996). George Fox was the founder of the Society of Friends. The book is not about George Fox but is consistent with his teachings as well as being consistent with other great teachings and discusses those teachings as they relate to the modern world and the future.
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