WE Blog

Seeking to convince the world that the United States finally is serious about slashing Earth-threatening carbon emissions, President Barack Obama is urging Congress to fast-track his plan for a carbon cap-and-trade system. Obama’s ambitious goal would require all Americans to abandon wanton consumption and adopt a green way of life that would reduce our nation’s carbon emissions 15 percent from 2005 levels by 2012 and 80 percent by 2050. Opponents of cap-and-trade legislation dubiously argue that such a system will destroy the U.S. economy — a mind-boggling assertion when you consider the huge number of jobs it will create. The new administration is duty-bound to bring the United States into line with the rest of the world in embracing Kyoto and preparing for Copenhagen. — Wayne Madsen, Online Journal

Key congressional committees are expected to begin debating legislation that would impose mandatory limits on greenhouse-gas emissions. The proposed legislation would create a European-style market-based system that caps the maximum allowable amounts of carbon dioxide from power plants, manufacturers and vehicles. If companies emit more than their cap allows, they must buy “carbon permits” on the market from companies that have extra ones. This “cap-and-trade” system is designed to give companies an incentive to reduce emissions, but unknowing consumers would be “taxed” through higher home energy bills and the rising costs of fuel, food and consumer products. It’s time we developed a fair system by first recognizing that greenhouse gas controls must be implemented globally: No one nation can do much on its own to reduce climate change. — Mark J. Perry, finance professor at the University of Michigan at Flint