Cap and trade is too little, too late

I was disappointed to see that, on the heels of the UN IPCC report warning of the dire consequences of relative inaction on climate change, the Herald Editorial Board chose to suggest a “cap-and-trade” solution to the crisis. (Monday, “It’s time to back solutions to climate change.”) Cap and trade is too little, too late. To make the kind of reductions in CO2 needed to prevent climate disaster, we need deep and fast reductions in our emissions before we cross thresholds that will lead to irreversible feedback loops, which will alter our climate in devastating, unforeseeable ways.

Tinkering around the edges with feel-good but unworkable “market based” solutions is something that may have helped buy us time if we started 30 years ago, but after kicking the can down the road for so long, we’ve foreclosed the slow-and-steady options. The global corporate model won’t solve the problem, it is the problem.

Donald Shank

Everett