tidal’s Recent Comments

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  I am to the point that I just want some sort of meaningful price put on carbon. Even if we start with cap & trade, we can switch to a tax later if it is simpler, more efficient. In fact, that is the path I think most likely. But I disagree about relative simplicity/complexity not mattering. I think it inevitable that we are going to have to - globally - price many more "externalities" in the future. If we have a hodge-podge of caps & trades, taxes, regulations and we need to keep layering in more and more of them, the strain on the system to coordinate them all individually and interactively could be overwhelming... POPs, nitrogen, heavy metals, fisheries, etc., etc. In a correspondence I had with Thomas Homer-Dixon about this, he argues "that our environmental and resource challenges are a major driver of increasing institutional and technological complexity, and that this rise in complexity can’t be sustained indefinitely. In the terms of Holling’s panarchy theory, we are further extending the front loop of our adaptive cycle, well past the point at which resilience is maximized. In simple terms, the increasing complexity makes our societies and systems less flexible and more brittle." I know that sounds somewhat abstract, but I think it is very important going forward. (He elaborates on that a great deal more in The Upside of Down.) And I think the current financial crisis and the way the shock has been transmitted through the entire global economy is not unrelated to "complexity". Longer-term, I think we are going to favour simplicity wherever we can and that probably will also favour, in many cases, the kind of simple tax-at-point-source schemes that Jim Hansen and others advocate. But, like I said, right now I don't care. Just get a damn price on carbon somehow. Now.On Myth: Climate policy must be simple posted 6 months, 3 weeks ago 10 Responses

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  sshhhh....

  let's just keep this our little secret for a while... we wouldn't want the stock markets to get all jittery...On A one-time cheerleader for hyper-consumerism lays down his pom-pom posted 8 months ago 16 Responses

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  funny, pathetic - esp. contrasted with...

  the congress in Copenhagen next week: "Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions".

  Speakers list here.On A look at the non-experts speaking at Heartland Institute's denialist sideshow posted 8 months ago 23 Responses

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  Where is America's Monbiot?

  Anyway, it has become a rare thing to see a deeply knowledgeable journalist really pushing a public figure. Where is America's Monbiot?

  
  Andy Revkin has all the knowledge and credibility and profile to play this role, but opts not to. Studiously takes a more "balanced" approach. He makes an enormously valuable contribution as it is, but it could be so much, much more. Sad.On Journalist interrogates head economist of International Energy Agency posted 10 months, 3 weeks ago 5 Responses

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  hehe...

  "Gloom and doom with a sense of humor®." indeed. Great title to the post. rotflmao...
  On Study: Common pollutant may lead to obesity posted 11 months ago 3 Responses