We're trapped in a slow motion train wreck. Like so many other things - the quagmire in Iraq, for instance - the crash at the end seems obvious. A few years ago an alternate energy system seemed possible. Instead we ended up with a government that ignored the threat, pretended that if they didn't believe in science it wouldn't matter, declared a war to go after even more oil. Half a trillion dollars later, we're not any closer to getting the Iraqis' oil - perhaps it's farther away than ever. But we're still burning oil in ever increasing amounts. And we're getting headlines like this one: Greenhouse gas 'threatens marine life'. The story tells us:
it [CO2] is also rapidly turning the world's oceans acid as it is dissolved in seawater, and putting an enormous array of marine life at risk. Ocean acidification may wipe out much of the microscopic plankton at the base of the marine food web, and have a knock-on fatal effect up through shellfish to major human food species such as cod.
Waiting for an alternative energy system to come along at this point seems like misplaced optimism.
A few weeks ago the city of New York banned transfatty acids in restaurant foods, to howls of protest from those who complained about the "Nanny State." Personally I couldn't understand the complaints. 15 years ago people thought margerine was safe to eat. Now I routinely read recommendations from experts that say there are no safe levels of transfatty acids. I don't blame chefs who used margerine back when it seemed safe, but why continue to cook with something that is a known toxin?
It's the same way with greenhouse gas. When people switched over to horseless carriages, people didn't foresee the danger. We can't blame them for that. But oil companies together with their partners in the automotive industry have been making huge profits off producing greenhouse gases for more than a century. We've made them wealthy beyond the dreams of kings. It's time for them to give something back.
I propose that every company involved in the production of greenhouse gases be given one of two options:
1/ Develop a carbon scrubbing system and take out the amount of carbon, commiserate with sales (not profits, they'll be tempted to make them look like less), so that they remove the amount of carbon they put into the atmosphere every year.
2/ Pay the U.S. government to do it for them, in terms of taxes or fines equivalent to the cost of scrubbing their CO2 for them.
I don't have any confidence that my representative would do anything with a suggestion like this but write back some inane letter about how he really is concerned with the environment and not to believe silly internet rumors to the contrary. So I'm hoping that if anyone else thinks this would be a good idea, and has actual representation in Congress, that you could suggest it. I hope while Congress is on a role they can start taking some positive steps towards improving the environment.