Tom Toles for March 15, 2013

Just a general comment:Over 30 countries have now taken up Carbon Taxes (yes, even China and India have), but the political opposition in nearly every one of those is claiming that they are almost the only ones (and that China and India won’t).

And how is Al Gore “profiting” from a carbon tax? Until we realize that “climate change” is not “weather”, the deniers will scream bloody murder on ANY initiative. They DENY science, even in the face of more FACTUAL research that shows overall temps are rising, and have done a major turnaround since the 70s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKNCZ7eEafU^http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4MOTvvdgYc*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObpODCsO_8A^The three links above show how Mike Strizki, a New Jersey resident, has taken his home and more off of the power grids. The second and third are part 1 and 2 of the same video.^There are solutions to the problems facing our nation. We simply have to educate ourselves and our children who will become the scientists of tomorrow.Once the flames melt the hose in Mr. Toles cartoon, it will be too late to focus solutions on the fires.Respectfully, C.

Solar and wind are now cheaper in Australia than new coal plants. The GOP and idiots like Ima want to keep America in the stone age (Cut education! Cut research! Cut taxes on oil companies! Ban scientists from saying the words “sea level rise”! Drill, baby, drill!) while China and the rest of the world modernize. America may be the first country to intentionally move itself to third-world status, due to deliberate sabotage by the Republican right.

One of the many ironies of the carbon tax and cap and trade debates was that the Republican response to the Kyoto Accords was “It’ll never work because it has no market-based incentive. You’d have to have a cap and trade system to make it effective.” Now 15 years later they say cap and trade is creeping socialism.

“Silicon prices have dropped to below the takeoff point”Yep, that appears to be the case.It’s really a no-brainer. Solar panel farms. Throughout the world’s deserts. Perpetual electricity. Energy problem: solved. Carbon problem: solved.

“When conservatives finally realize that global warming is a problem they’ll want to blame the Democrats for not doing anything”Lol! Absolutely true! Except for the fact that the way things are going now, there won’t be a ‘Republican party’ in 10 years . . .

Haven’t you heard? The new solar cells are made of solid silver and as they have to be polished every day, this wears the silver thin requiring replacement. My maid polishes the solar cells every day with the dinnerware.

Stop the crying about the climate. Give the rich tax cuts. Oh, and guns. Don’t forget the guns.

“…how many penalties, licenses, and obstacles for new coal plants?”*When did doing the responsible thing by cleaning up after yourself become a “penalty” or “obstacle”? *Even ignoring CO2, a coal-burning power plant dumps tons of the worst types of particulate pollution into the air- pollution that everyone downstream has to live with. (This is why every day in Beijing looks cloudy, and pollution-related diseases are rising.)*Yes, scrubbing exhaust is expensive. So is keeping our cars tuned up, and paying for garbage pick-up rather than burning it in our backyards. But they are the responsible things we all do. Why shouldn’t the electric utilities do the same?

There’s a simple explanation for this seemingly absurd ignorance of the obvious fact that a carbon tax is the solution. We live in a plutocracy.

“Germany has still managed to be the world leader in solar power . . . The United States, by contrast . . . Why the difference?”The German government and people aren’t hamstrung by Fox News.

Fabulous article, old. And worthy of note that The Economist is hardly a left-wing rag!

Please get your grammar straight. “It’s” is only used as a contraction for “it is”. “Its” is the correct spelling when you mean “belonging to it”. Americans need to better understand their own language.