Climate Change

Yesterday I attended a speaker series hosted by NC Policy Watch. This luncheon focused on climate change and federal legislation surrounded cap & trade. There was an interesting perspective on this issue and the recurring theme of all 3 speakers was that action needed to be taken now. While they all agreed that any policy that comes out of Congress won't be perfect, cap and trade is an ideal option and needed to be signed into law immediately.

The NC State Grange has opposed cap & trade because of concerns that it will result in higher costs for the average household, decreased global competitiveness and detrimental impacts on the agricultural industry. All of these concerns tie back to the notion that cap & trade will do little to nothing to affect global climate change. During Q&A time with the speakers, I couldn't help but ask what the actual effect on global climate change a cap & trade policy would have. Simply, the answer I received was that an insignificant change would occur. Exactly the point the Grange has been stating all along. The speaker argued that China has the capability to implement a cap & trade policy and technology which would surpass us in reducing the carbon footprint and we would be "left behind" by China. There wasn't enough time for a follow up question, but if there was I would have asked - what indication has China given us that they are going to reduce their carbon emissions? None that I have seen. He was absolutely right.. China has the ability impose a policy to reduce carbon emissions and has the ability to do it through technology. However, they have not given any type of indication that they have any intention of doing so. The other two speakers followed up with my initial question by saying that cap & trade would only be the first step toward reducing carbon emissions. What an even scarier thought.....