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Sunday, February 19, 2023

The Idling Rich - Carbon & Money


Who will suffer the worst impacts of climate change? The poor. 

Who has the resources to do something to resolve climate change? Certainly, we can all do our part and we can all vote for reasonable climate policy... But the answer for the purposes of this blog post is: The rich. 

The rich are the ones that could afford to build zero-emission apartment buildings, fund eco-friendly start-ups, buy zero-emission fleet vehicles, and so much more. 

The ‘1%’ are the main drivers of climate change, but it hits the poor the hardest: Oxfam report

How do we get people in the second group to care about what happens to people in the first group? 

The jet-setters are flying around for important red carpet events, all-the-while burning jet fuel. The ironic part is that some of them are flying to events where they will be talking about how important it is that we take action regarding climate change. Is that irony or hypocrisy (maybe both)?

There's no question that with more income, quality of life improves (up to a point). Along with this improved quality of life, generally comes an increase in emission output. So, we have to have a system that allows for an improved quality of life, without increasing emissions.

We cannot depend on everyone having personal solar panels and their own new EV. Sure these should be encouraged, but we also need a grid that is renewably powered and zero-emissions public transportation.  

Fossil fuels are only viewed as cheap because the true price includes an environmental debt. One that is not paid at the pump. The externalities for emissions need to be included in that fossil fuel price. This levels the playing field for renewables. 

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