So writes Michael Gerson, former chief speechwriter and senior policy advisor to President Bush, in a terrific Washington Post column today.
Gerson notes a parallel between successful efforts to reduce smog levels in Los Angeles and today’s efforts to address climate change. In Los Angeles new technologies have played an essential role in cutting smog, writes Gerson, but those technologies likely wouldn’t have come about in the absence of government air quality policies that created an economic incentive for their development. Similarly, Gerson believes a cap on carbon emissions today “would create economic incentives for the development of new technologies” that address climate change.
Here’s how Gerson concludes:
“But the overall argument for a cap-and-trade system is strong. The answer to global warming will eventually be technological – the production of energy without the production of heat-trapping gases. But only the government can create the incentives for Americans to work on this problem with urgency and seriousness.”
To read his column in its entirety click here.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 15th, 2007 at 5:24 pm and is filed under Alternative Energy Technology, Cap and Trade, Politics/Government . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
