One solution being discussed to curb greenhouse gas emissions is carbon taxes or, in the case of imported goods, carbon tariffs. The idea is to make major polluters pay in order to induce them to go carbon neutral or to have them fund projects and programmes to offset their GHG emissions.
A common criticism of carbon tariffs is determining just what is the carbon footprint of any particular commodity. Now an American satellite mapping initiative has shown there are ways of monitoring carbon emitters from space. Check out this video.
This would not be good for Prius sales . . . they have a carbon footprint equal to driving a HUMMER FOR A YEAR . . . before they ever leave the lot!!! Its the BATTERY folks, very messy afair.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it time we distinguished between Carbon emissions and CO2 . . . they are not the same. Carbon particles emitted by diesel engines and manufacturing are not CO2. CO2 is a rare (.053% of atmosphere) non-toxic gas which plants require for photosynthsis.
Carbon particles are just that chunks of airborn pollutants . . . large difference and they need to be cleaned up.
Maybe we could tax the Chinese imports out of existance . . .
By the way Mound . . . record low for today at Vancouver Airport was in 1970 . . . it was 0 decrees C. Today it was 2 degrees C . . . almost another record cold day. Of course in 1970 we were heading for the 1975 Ice Age!!