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General Discussion / The Little Ape That Could

« on: November 18, 2017, 05:26:59 PM »

Interesting summary: see link: https://skepticalscience.com/thelittleapethatcould.html

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General Discussion / Carbon Tax

« on: March 28, 2016, 07:23:55 AM »

There is a vast amount of information and commentary about the problems the world faces. The problem of global warming or climate change has been on the table for many years and is increasingly viewed by thoughtful people as reaching a critical stage.

Humans are destroying their habitat and other life forms through excessive population, consumption, and waste.  It is not practicable to reduce population which already far exceeds the the earth's carrying capacity. It is only ethical to support actions and policies which reduce population growth. Something can be done about consumption.

Science identifies the most immediate threat to our existence as climate change caused by the consumption of fossil fuels. Since technology to prevent climate change has not yet been invented, the only way to prevent it's continuation is to reduce fossil fuel consumption.

For those who care, the actions available are as follows. First, reduce personal consumption. Second, convince others to reduce consumption. Third, convince the power structure to adopt and institute policies that make consumption of fossil fuels  uneconomic to users.  A tax on fossil fuel (carbon tax) consumption is the most efficient way to do this.

Worldwide effort to tax carbon should be expanded. The US should adopt a carbon tax, but so far, efforts in Congress have been anemic and unsuccessful.  As a primary contributor to the problem, the US should lead the way. Vermonters again have a chance to lead.

There is a coalition of environmental groups, EnergyIndepentVermont.org, which is actively supporting passage in the VT legislature of a carbon tax (H.395 and H.410 have been introduced). Check out their web site, learn about the issues, join their activities. You will be doing a good thing.

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General Discussion / Global Warming

« on: March 31, 2015, 08:47:11 AM »

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I am a member of several environmental organizations but haven't been much of an activist. This is changing. I support legislation for a carbon tax for Vermont now being introduced ,and this is a letter I submitted to Free Press editors:

Do you like loons? Do you like Hemlock trees? The Audubon Society says that the Common Loon is one of 314 North American birds threatened by Global Warming. The Wooly Aldegid insect threatens to kill all our Hemlocks because it can survive in warmer winters.

Do you want to pay for damage done by extreme weather events that will become more common due to Global Warming? Super-storm Irene cost us $250 million in damages to state highways. We can’t allow trends like this to continue. See http://www.anr.state.vt.us/anr/climatechange/irenebythenumbers.htmlhttp://www.anr.state.vt.us/anr/climatechange/irenebythenumbers.html

These are only examples, and you can do something about it. A coalition of environmental groups, such as VPIRG, Sierra Club, and 350VT, is promoting a Carbon Pollution Tax in the state of Vermont. A top notch public policy study organization, Regional Economic Models, Inc., shows that such a tax would be effective and benefit Vermonters economically.

Be a good citizen and learn more! Check out www.energyindependentvermont.org<http://www.energyindependentvermont.org>

Newt Garland
Fairfax