Transparency key to reducing carbon footprint

Re Are carbon taxes an effective way to fight climate change?, Opinion, May 29 Are carbon taxes an effective way to fight climate change? No. They are an excuse for business as usual, with the added bonus of tax revenue. As long as we have growth at all costs, adding more and more people to the equation, carbon emissions will continue to rise. As is the case since signing on to the Paris accord.

If we were serious about lowering our carbon footprint, every good and service would be clearly labelled with a total carbon footprint — not just the product itself, but including the distance travelled and the packaging.

People want to do the right thing, as demonstrated by the success of the blue box and curbside recycling. If we want to reduce excess packaging and plastic waste, we need to show people how much carbon pollution is involved in making it and shipping it halfway around the world. Kurt Crist, Consecon, Ont. Thank you for posting these two opinion pieces side by side. It was instructive to see how the two writers presented a significantly different tone. On the one hand was the measured tone of economics professor Stewart Elgie, backing the concept of carbon pricing. Contrast this with the incendiary tone taken by Philip Cross of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, opposing carbon pricing.

Cross’s entire piece was a divisive rant that placed the blame for the ideological “existential threat” we find ourselves in on the “left” — those nasty socialists who introduced a free-market mechanism to reduce emissions. The right is exposed as captured by ideology and no longer able to commit to reasoned debate. Bruce Van Dieten, Toronto