Cantwell on Cap and Dividend, Again
Last week, the Tacoma News Tribune reported that Senator Maria Cantwell has come out in favor of Cap and Dividend -- a system to auction off a limited supply of "permits" for emitting climate-warming gases, and return the auction proceeds back to US residents in equal, per capita shares. We like the Cap and Dividend idea, since it seems like an effective system for reducing greenhouse emissions, and also for protecting people's pocketbooks.
But as we mentioned last week, the News Tribune article had one statement that simply seemed wrong: it described Cap and Dividend as "a relatively new approach that would eliminate the trading of emissions credits." That's not right: the essence of the Cap & Dividend idea is 1) auctioning permits, and 2) returning the revenue to people. The tradeability of permits is a separate issue; Cap & Dividend could work either with tradeable or non-tradeable permits.
And based on a conversation with a helpful Cantwell staffer, it seems that she's well aware of this distinction. Her proposal is still on the drawing board, of course. But her staff is quite aware that a Cap and Dividend system could allow firms to trade permits with one another; the confusion wasn't on Cantwell's end.
It's understandable that a reporter could get tripped up on this issue -- there are so many variations in cap and trade, it's easy to get the details mixed up. Yet the success (or failure) of climate policy is in the details. So here's hoping that reporters covering the issues are able to find enough time to master them.
Swine Flu In Perspective
Not to belittle anyone's anxiety about the swine flu, but I'm feeling a little peevish this morning. Today's newspaper headlines are screaming that the global death toll appears to have surpassed 150, including the first death outside of Mexico. As a consequence, countries are banning imports, setting up travel restrictions, and scrambling public health resources. Everyone's going code-red.
But 150 deaths -- the swine flu grand total to date -- is just a bad day on the highways of the US and Canada. Day and in day out, North America racks up an average of about 1 traffic fatality every 12 minutes, to total about 42,000 in the US and approximately 3,000 in Canada annually. And according to one estimate, global traffic fatalities are in the neighborhood of 800,000 people per year!
Don't get me wrong, 150 deaths is awful. And if there's a chance that swine flu could turn into a global pandemic then we should definitely be marshalling all available resources.
What bugs me is that when it comes to traffic fatalities, few people really notice... or even care. Maybe you'll see an occasional headline on page B-6 or maybe not. That's despite the fact that car collisions are the leading cause of death in the US under the age of 45. Vehicles injure or cripple many multiples of the tens of thousands that they kill, often in the prime of life. To say nothing of the secondary health effects of driving that include worsened air quality and rising obesity rates.
So where's the outrage? Where's the alarm? Why isn't the World Health Organization issuing a high-alert to nations everywhere. Stay out of your cars! Stop driving! Stop spending billions of dollars to design high-speed death corridors in the hearts of your major cities!
I suppose that will happen about the time that pigs fly.
