Personal Carbon Allowance

Subject: Personal Carbon Allowance
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 26 May 08 - 09:06 AM

Article here
Am I alone in thinking that if they can make this work, that this is the most positive green idea to have emerged in a long time.
It would make it personal, and therefore something we would ALL have to think about, and do something positive about.
Kids come out of school, brimming with good intentions and world saving ideals, but then they buy their first car, and drive it about willy nilly, over revving the engine, and generally polluting the atmosphere they were taught at school to care about.
Then of course all these rules and regulations don't apply to them, only to other people. A bit like people in power and the laws they create for other people to obey, but ignore them themselves.
I say make it a personal responsibility, otherwise it gets dismissed/ignored by the majority of people.


G.

Subject: RE: Personal Carbon Allowance
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 26 May 08 - 09:51 AM

The thought seems to ring a bell, but the accounting and the enforcement seem as if they'd be a nightmare, if not outright impossible.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Personal Carbon Allowance
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 26 May 08 - 09:58 AM

Well most of us already carry loyalty cards which are swiped through a reader at the cash till.

G

Subject: RE: Personal Carbon Allowance
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 26 May 08 - 10:36 AM

I didn't own a car for seven years, so I must be in credit now.

eric

Subject: RE: Personal Carbon Allowance
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 26 May 08 - 11:34 AM

This is an impractical idea from the get-go. There are numerous instances of 'green credits' and 'trading or offsetting credits". This is a sham which does nothing for the environment, and allows big polluters to continue big pollution, to say nothing of the possibility of outright fraud and cheating.

A better idea is that each of us take individual responsibility for the energy we use (and often waste), and force industry to actually reduce (not offset) their pollution. Force does not necessarily mean government action, but could be citizen action such as product boycotts.

Subject: RE: Personal Carbon Allowance
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 26 May 08 - 11:38 AM

Individual voluntary action will NEVER work, too many selfish people, and most of them big guys.

G

Subject: RE: Personal Carbon Allowance
From: curmudgeon
Date: 26 May 08 - 11:46 AM

On another note, we have 30+ acres of hardwood forest. Any ideas on how we might sell some carbon credits?

Tom & Linn

Subject: RE: Personal Carbon Allowance
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 26 May 08 - 11:52 AM

We try our best but it seems such a little compared to what the big companies could be doing. The cars run on LPG, we recycle, have low energy light bulbs, no central heating, don't leave electrical items on standby, own 25 acres of ancient woodland, use the washing machine on it's 30 degree cycle.

Subject: RE: Personal Carbon Allowance
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 26 May 08 - 12:21 PM

Well in your case as in many others CJ I'm preaching to the converted, but it's not people like you that these things are aimed at It's more to do with making people think, and it's an incentive to under use if you can reap a reward by selling your unused portion. Don't forget that the guy with the Rolls Royce would only get the same as the man with the bicycle, so RR man would have to pay if he wants to consume more.
Seems only fair to me.

G

Subject: RE: Personal Carbon Allowance
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 26 May 08 - 03:02 PM

On the surface it sounds like another scheme to permit "those who can afford it" to have "as much as they want" with transfer of the burden of fixing things transfered to those who will have to sell their credits to buy food.

I don't see anything preventing the coal plant from buying large blocks of "individual credits" from a co-op of individuals just as they now buy credits from each other.(?)

The committee was quite likely looking at improving the "liquidity" of the carbon credits market by dispersing additional credits across all of the individual consumers, - - - as a favor to the dirtiest of the industrial users.(?)

But then I've become a bit cynical since the proposal for the new coal fired plant in Kansas because Colorado needs the power and Colorado won't let them build there. (Rejected by KS Environmental licensing, two bills to override passed by legislature - because we'll all die if the plant doesn't get built - two vetos by the Gov. Still fighting via threats, extortion, kickbacks, and mass publicity campaigns that are an insult to human intelligence¹.)

¹ OK, so that's rare in Kansas.

John

Subject: RE: Personal Carbon Allowance
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 26 May 08 - 07:07 PM

Make 'em non-transferable would make more sense.

Subject: RE: Personal Carbon Allowance
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 26 May 08 - 07:10 PM

On the surface it sounds like another scheme to permit "those who can afford it" to have "as much as they want" with transfer of the burden of fixing things transfered to those who will have to sell their credits to buy food.

I fear that is how it would wind up.

Subject: RE: Personal Carbon Allowance
From: Art Thieme
Date: 27 May 08 - 02:14 AM

My personal carbon allowance is two chunks of charcoal by mouth a day. It reduces flatulence.

Art

Subject: RE: Personal Carbon Allowance
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 27 May 08 - 04:04 AM

They are burning forests to stop you farting Art?

Save a tree, and fart for free.


G

Subject: RE: Personal Carbon Allowance
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 27 May 08 - 06:19 AM

I agree with you Giok!