George Will on Climate Change
This letter to the editor sent to the Washington Post did not make the cut, but I spent some time on it (and maybe this way someone somewhere will read it…):
In his April 12 column, “Fuzzy Climate Math,” George Will points out the sometimes deleterious–though unintended–consequences of consumers’ efforts to buy more environmentally friendly products, especially when it comes to global warming. Moreover, Mr. Will suggests that the US should not take action to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions because of the burgeoning emissions from the rapidly growing economies of India and China.
Mr. Will is correct to say that, in light of products’ complex and often inscrutable global supply chains, individual consumers cannot always make environmentally sound choices on their own. This is why governments must use policy mechanisms, like a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade program, to address the threat of global warming. Once such a policy is in place, consumers can simply respond to market prices that reflect products’ true environmental costs.
While actions by Americans and Europeans alone will not avert the possibly severe consequences of global warming, developed nations must act first. For one, developed nations are responsible for the lion’s share of greenhouse gases currently in the atmosphere. Furthermore, nations like India and China will not act to limit the growth of their emissions without prior commitments by and assistance from the US and
Europe.
