I have no love of corporations. They enjoy a parallel legal system more liberal than our own, they receive tax credits and welfare on a scale we can't even imagine and as a rule they tend to be very bad neighbors. Legislation is upcoming for a new "Carbon Trading" market system that I suggest everyone take a good hard look at.
Its basically a cap and trade system, like the one set up for the clean air act. In reality, having energy for an entire nation there is a certain amount of pollution required, so they set up a system where the government inspects a facility and determines how much pollution it can generate. If it goes over the governments assessed amount, it has to buy "credits", if they generate less pollution they can sell the extra credits to another company or save them for a rainy day.
The idea is to make carbon into an abstract, global commodity. The EU already has a system like this, the EUETS, but emissions are up, profits are up and consumers are paying more than ever since the system has been put in place. The problems, as critics point out, are many and varied. Reduction of illegal practices like gas flaring would get carbon credits, which is akin to getting credit drinking wine and driving instead of drinking whiskey. Ok that's a logical fallacy, but you get the idea. Credit for NOT doing something they shouldn't be doing in the first place? Not only that, but companies can trade within themselves and they can get credit for facilities in other countries where the environmental laws are nonexistent. The whole process is commanded by the worst offenders, because the incentive would be for them to keep violating terms because it would be profitable for traders.
This trading system is just a layer of obfuscation. There aren't any hard demands in the act, its greenwashing. A way the attach the names of polluters to buzzwords that give the illusion of action, but really its business as usual under the smokestacks. To the credit of the clean air act it did reduce acid rain and air pollution better than anyone had expected, but that was a success based on EXPECTATIONS. In point of fact, there is still air pollution and acid rain so it merely added an incentive at a time when there were no incentives. Following that example, anything can be a success if you keeps expectations low. Coal and oil companies will receive a bounty of credits for free just for serving national interests and their limits will be set very high indeed.
Just to put all this in perspective, It has only been about One Hundred years since we really started to pollute the air and water. Our grandparents could drink water from any stream and swim in any lake. Nuclear Power is really only about sixty years old and the waste from that takes Thousands of years to become inert. The way we live is the cause of all these problems. All of us. Conservation is the best way to cut emissions, the best way to reduce greenhouse gases and ultimately save human society. I am happy to see this is coming up because it brings attention to just how badly we live. Get up earlier and use the sun for light instead of staying up late burning lamps. Live close to family and work so you can walk or ride a bike. Leave those giant stupid televisions in the store. Don't put the blame on someone else for these problems, accept responsibility and do something - and by do something I don't mean create a fantasy institution to trade "credits" giving people permission to act badly. That's an obfuscation.
Moral: Stick it to the man by not needing him.
