Earth Equity News

Saving the Planet is Hard. By Ken Johnson, Grist, September 29, 2009. "Paul Krugman concludes in It's Easy Being Green (NY Times Opinion, 9/24/2009) that 'The claim that climate legislation will kill the economy deserves the same disdain as the claim that global warming is a hoax.' Indeed, but the notion that the Waxman-Markey legislation is about 'saving the planet' (Krugman's words) is equally inscrutable. Even Joe Romm's Climate Progress blog, one of the most ardently supportive voices in favor of Waxman-Markey, asserted in May that if the law is enacted there would only be a '10% to 20% chance of averting catastrophe.' Are those the best odds that Waxman-Markey's cheap emission reductions can buy? Waxman-Markey's faults notwithstanding, it could be a positive step forward if it does not impede complementary efforts to achieve further emission reductions and to set precedents for more effective federal action. And yet the House bill would perversely impede and undermine such efforts. How so? [See the above article by Dan Galpern]... Yes, 'it's easy being green,' but saving the planet is harder. Congress might not be able to pass climate legislation if it isn't as cheap and easy as Krugman says it will be, but the law should not deter and diminish the efforts of those who are able and willing to do more and to pay more to help avert climate catastrophe. The fundamental question before the Senate is this: Should individuals, corporations, municipalities and states have the ability and the right, under federal cap-and-trade legislation, to take action to further reduce their carbon footprint without their action resulting in, and being nullified by, increased emissions elsewhere?"