EnviroWave by Robert Green

"No to carbon trading: Make the polluters pay" response to GreenLeft.org.au's article on carbon trading. http://www.GreenLeft.org.au/2006/691/35896

The proposition that carbon trading schemes/prjects do not make the polluters pay is incorrect. The fact is, that polluters are required to pay, via the purchase of "Certified Emission Reduction" (CER) credits, whereas those who do reduce their emissions, may profit from the sale of CER credits in the carbon market.

The carbon market has been around for some time and is growing substantially despite the volatility of the price of a CER, as a result of both the environmental need and business opportunities presented in reducing pollution. The net effect is an expedient market pressure for businesses to reduce the offensive production behaviors, and for consumers (on all scales) to influence production behaviors through their purchasing and consumption practices.

I see the debate as not being a matter of whether carbon pollution is being controlled, but at what rate is it being controlled. The rate at which pollution control is occurring is still slow, but it does happen. I seriously doubt, however, that market pressure is enough to control carbon emissions alone.

I agree with Tim Stewart and Pip Hinman, that the best place for coal is in the ground, and we should wean ourselves of our dependency on it. However, coal is deeply ingrained in power production around the world, and a large-scale replacement fuel might be enough of a challenge to not be feasible.

Decentralization of power production, coupled with the decentralization of the production of goods or crops as a solution, to follow the Cuban model, will require a new market balance. The shift in centralized production to decentralized production will require a significant market force to initiate that movement, which is not yet in place, and may not outweigh the benefits of the current global production.

One of the promising technologies to help reduce our demand on coal and other fossil fuels are the petrochemicals derived from sustainable crops such as soybean, corn and algae. One of the companies I am interested in seeing develop is PetroAlgae, LLC , which is commercializing a proprietary, environmentally-friendly algae that generates over two hundred times more oil per acre than traditional biofuel crops like soybeans.

The algae can be harvested daily and fifty percent of its mass is expressible oil, and has many environmental benefits as well, including absorption of greenhouse gases, and water purification.
There is no single silver bullet for eliminating our pollution woes, so we must take consideration and action on all promising technologies, policies and philosophies that can help reduce our carbon signature, both individually and as members of our global environment.

Robert