Not enough and it has too many perverse incentives.
We need rationing. If it harms the environment then it must be rationed and the environmental costs must be paid.
Every thing has its environment cost and everyone gets an allowance, a ration. Everyone gets the same ration. You can sell your ration but you can’t buy anything with an environmental cost without a ration. If something is sustainably produced, no environmental cost then you can buy that without a ration. If you buy something that is environmentally restorative then you get a ration rebate. It is like personal cap and trade and carbon offsets combined.
The ration is not for products like it was during WWII it is for carbon emissions and other environmental destruction. You could buy a pound of beef, 2 pounds of chicken or 10 pounds of potatoes for the same ration. At the checkout counter you pay the price of the purchase and debit your environmental ration electronic benefits transfer card the kilotons CO2 equivalent for the items purchased. If your ration card is empty then you can make a purchase unless the seller can sell or loan you ration credits.
These credits are transferable, like cap and trade. Poor people who would not use or don’t need all their credits can sell them to someone who does or a rich person who wants to indulge.
Credits will need to cause a reduction in pollution so they need to be rare and valuable. Credits need to become scarcer over time until they almost disappear as we stop polluting.
Just because they become scarcer does not mean they will become more valuable as sustainable alternatives will have been incentivized so non-polluting options will become more common so people will need smaller and smaller rations. More sustainable consumption practices will be more common with people choosing to car pool or ride a bike or walk instead of taking a Uber or driving themselves.
Somethings will just become out of reach for all but the very very rich. Private jets and luxury powered yachts for example. Even conventional air travel will take quite a chunk of rations or building a McMansion. Sailboats and airships may make a comeback.
I know this will cause huge disruptions but we need huge changes. This will stifle growth, kill jobs but save the planet. People who think anything less are just fooling themselves.
Warren’s plan is just too conventional, the green new deal is too conventional. It might help the poor but it will not save the planet, it is not nearly green enough and will actually increase environmental destruction in the near term.
TEK
