Cap & Fade
How does cap and trade help us improve the environment? In my perception, it fabricates another huge bureaucracy which will migrate polluting activities to non-participating countries. Is there a better way? I wonder if the public interest is served by commodifying pollution. Could we achieve better living conditions and world leadership by reducing our environmental footprint in every household? What if we approved a rule where every property and every self-propelled unit were required to reduce its air and water pollutants (from starting levels to ‘canary-safe’ air and potable water) by 2% per year, straight line, without exception? I call this strategy cap and fade. What might evolve out of this strategy?
Homeowners would scramble to meet the first few reductions. Then more radical steps would be required. Massive innovation would be unleashed. Geothermal solutions would expand. LED bulbs would be common. Homes would have fewer exposed walls. Homes would downsize. Micro sewage plants would become affordable. Who knows what would emerge.
Vehicle owners would use their vehicles less. Carpooling would increase. Public transit would be used more. Individuals would move closer to their work. Individuals would decide to walk or bike to work. Urbanization might reverse. Reliable high-speed internet might find its way to every rural household. Massive factories might give way to multitudes of micro plants. Urban streets might be landscaped as parks. Private car garages might become stores, schools, professional offices, multi-generational housing, bakeries, cafés, and factories. Households might have a parent in them. Individuals might know their neighbors. There might be no street lights. One policeman might be well known in the village. Crime might be near zero. Kids might be able to play in the neighborhood. Sports might be collegial and inclusive. Downtown high-rises might convert to 95% housing and 5% business. Business campuses might ensure adequate housing within walking and biking distance. Grandparents might watch the children. Grandparents might be included in daily life rather than being ear-tagged on a wrinkle-ranch. Fat folks might lose weight. Disposable containers might give way to reusable dishes. Rampant allergies might evaporate. Small town rumor mills would flourish; you can’t win ’em all!
Factories, plants, and municipalities would find ways to capture and clean-up the air and water from their operations. New, self-propelled units would not pollute. Old plants would phase down because retrofitting would be too expensive. New plants would not pollute. Some operations would move off-country but local demand would be met, somehow. Innovation would explode.
Eco-friendly energy sources would flourish. Leading-edge countries would delight the world. Innovators will flock to an eco-friendly country if it provided sane democracy, life security, justice, tax, education, immigration, and safety policies.