Jay Walljasper, Senior Fellow at On the Commons and editor of OnTheCommons.org, created OTC’s book All That We Share: A Field Guide to the Commons. A speaker, communications strategist and writer and editor, he chronicles stories from around the world that point us toward a more equitable, sustainable and enjoyable future. He is author of The Great Neighborhood Book and a senior associate at the urban affairs consortium Citiscope. Walljasper also writes a column about city life for Shareable.net and is a Senior Fellow at Project for Public Spaces and Augsburg College’s Sabo Center for Citizenship and Learning. For more of his work, see JayWalljasper....
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Cap-and-Dividend Could Break Logjam on Climate Change
By Jay Walljasper
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The commons-based Cap-and-Dividend plan to curb global warming can bust through the political deadlock that so far has prevented meaningful federal action on reducing greenhouse gases, according to Good magazine.
Reporter Ben Jervey notes that it represents a viable “third way” in between cap-and-trade proposals (which grossly favor the interests of energy corporations) and calls for a carbon tax (which is politically challenging since it will raise energy costs for U.S. households).
The idea behind Cap-and-Dividend, which was conceived by OTC Senior Fellow Peter Barnes, is to charge companies for excess carbon emissions and then return that money directly to citizens.
“Higher energy costs, then, would be offset by monthly or quarterly direct deposits into the bank accounts of anyone with a social security number. Because everyone gets an equal share, it becomes a progressive system that best benefits the lower-income families who’d potentially suffer the most from rising energy prices,” writes Jervey.
Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) will soon introduce federal legislation on the Cap-and-Dividend model that would cap carbon emissions by 2012, and return 90 percent of the money raised through auctioning carbon permits to the public.
On the campaign trail, Barack Obama voiced support for similar legislation to combat global warming.
Read the full story:http://www.good.is/?p=15999
Posted March 18, 2009
