Taxing climate change: Not the answer.

The United Conservative Party (UCP) in Alberta voted to do away with the Alberta carbon tax should it win the provincial election next year, which it looks according to the polls is the UCP’s to lose. However, should the UCP do away with a provincial tax then as surely as a slow-moving train a federal one is coming, unless the incumbent Liberals lose the plot and their lead in the polls. That could mean a court battle I guess but the outcome would likely still be a carbon tax that is about as popular in Alberta as a floater in a swimming pool.

Tax historically, is a mechanism that governments are often quick to adapt and slow to get rid of, unless it means MPs and MLAs risk losing their seats. I think carbon tax could be just that, a vote killer. Certainly, finance ministries will have been quick to see just how much can be raked back and I believe that the other side, rebates and carbon reducing policies are drops in an ocean that we can never fix and even smoke and mirrors.

For whatever reason, and I think that mankind hasn’t helped, the climate is changing. It has done it before and it will do it again we are mere ants on an elephant when it comes to the planet. That doesn’t mean that we can’t work smart and make our environment better to be in. Throwing the bath out with the bath water to achieve a dubious target based on incomplete and inaccurate modeling seems plain dumb. Cynically one might consider carbon tax a cash cow.

Methane emissions from our planet, which are on the rise in our forests, permafrost and especially the oceans are perplexing scientists and I believe were not considered in modelling and target setting. Methane is many times more effective at warming the planet than Co2.

Coal was the life blood of the industrial revolution and we still have lots of it that is easy to mine. Yet, perfectly useable power stations are being shut to adhere to a flawed policy and agreement. We don’t have to belch out vast amounts of emissions from coal stations many, perhaps all, could be retrofitted with carbon capture/reducing technology for the remainder of their useful life when alternative power will be available. It makes no sense to put thousands of people on the employment scrapheap. I’ve seen mining towns in the villages in the aftermath of mine closures. Some have never recovered.

I also believe that individual dwellings and businesses can become more and perhaps totally self sufficient with micro power generation and energy efficiencies. Although I suspect that major corporations and even governments will not want to see this happen.

History is a great leveller. I am reminded that it was an unpopular introduction of a tax in the UK, the poll tax, that was the beginning of the end of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s leadership. Changing policies, smartly for the good of the environment and the people is one thing. Inventing a tax and calling it good for all is quite another.

Methane emissions from our planet, which are on the rise in our forests, permafrost and especially the oceans are perplexing scientists and I believe were not considered in modelling and target setting. Methane is many times more effective at warming the planet than Co2.