Dad, can I have an advance on my carbon allowance?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,1493022,00.html

Ethical living

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Plane speaking


Thanks to low-cost airlines and super-size jets, the world has got smaller. Unfortunately, it's also got hotter. Lucy Siegle becomes a carbon counter

Sunday May 29, 2005
The Observer


The following correction was printed in the Observer's For the record column, Sunday June 19 2005

The article below misquotes transport expert Dr Mayer Hillman's book, How We Can Save the Planet. We said Dr Hillman 'suggests keeping a carbon diary. Flying from Paris to New York will take up a quarter of your annual carbon quota'. In fact, taking account of climate scientists' calculations of the greenhouse gases the planet can safely absorb, that annual quota will be exceeded one-and-a-half times in that one flight

snip

No wonder we're besotted: in 1993, 51m of us took flights; by 2003 this had risen to 97m. Even if you might not be a plane spotter, the chances are that today you'll still hear a plane - after all, 1m people in the UK are adversely affected by aviation noise and air pollution. So that's one drawback. Here comes another. Aviation is the UK's fastest-growing source of CO2 emissions - the principal greenhouse gas, responsible for 3 to 5 per cent of our CO2 emissions.

By 2010, experts warn, aviation emissions will wipe out any progress made on CO2 reduction through Kyoto. But despite this, aviation fuel is still exempt from fuel duty, meaning that the airline industry pays no penalties for its contribution to global warming or atmospheric pollution.

An idea whose time has come? If it turns out that global warming is happening and serious steps must be taken, will Americans be up for the idea of carbon allowances like Britain is discussing? It is (gasp!) a form of rationing. Will we have the same moral fortitude of the Greatest Generation who willingly forwent gasoline and butter for the war effort and grew Victory Gardens? Or will we insist that it is our right to eat and drive and fly ourselves right out of existence?

I was thinking that it might be interesting to be put on an annual carbon allowance. It could open up another form of savings and investment. For instance, what if I've used up my allowance but want to fly somewhere on vacation. Next door to me lives a little old lady who drives about 87 miles a year total and who never ever travels and who also is subsisting hand to mouth on her Social Security. What if she could list and sell her personal carbon allowance on some kind of exchange and could supplement her income by doing this? In this sense, she is actually financially rewarded for her modest lifestyle. Selling her allotment does not increase the total distribution in anyway. Her situation improves, the planet's situation improves, and I've had to pay something for spewing out more than my fair share of carbon.

I would predict that spoiled, I-want-it-now Americans would kick, scream, gnash their teeth and hold their breath until their faces turn blue if someone tried impose enforce environmental responsibility on them. But my plan above, actually does address the age-old question - what's in it for me? How about MONEY?

[madokie]

1. I'm all for it