Regulate Carbon—and Trade—to Attack Global Warming

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/05/08/regulate-carbon%e2%80%94and-trade%e2%80%94to-attack-global-warming/

Regulate Carbon—and Trade—to Attack Global Warming

by James Parks, May 8, 2007


Environmental protections in trade deals have been a key concern of working people the world over. But the issue of global warming makes the need for such protections more urgent, says United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard.

Speaking to the North American Labor Conference on Climate Crisis at Cornell University, Gerard said yesterday that more stringent regulation of carbon emissions and trade is essential for addressing the global climate crisis. Said Gerard:

Global warming has transformed the issue of pollution into the ultimate health and safety issue.

Labor, environmental and human rights standards are at the core of our vision for making the global economy work for workers. They should become the new gold standard for how nations trade with each other.

Gerard said the union movement’s vision of addressing global warming is fundamentally at odds with global policies that allow corporations to make huge profits by buying and trading the rights to emit carbon without ever addressing the basic inequalities in our global economy.



We need to use regulation of global warming and trade to lift 2 billion people out of poverty around the world. To do that, we’ll need to regulate a lot of economic activity, from power plants to fuel efficiency to energy efficiency, and we’ll need to use this regulation as a powerful tool to improve workers’ lives, both here in North America and across the globe.

Last year, the USW joined with the Sierra Club to form the Blue Green Alliance, a partnership committed to mobilizing public support for policies that create good jobs, a cleaner environment and a safer world.

FULL story at link.

[KT2000]

1. This is a thought I had

With more and more manufacturing going overseas, why are the carbon emissions in the US going up and not down?

Are US companies allowed to sell their allowances if their facilities are no longer operating?

There is something wrong in the numbers.