Based on the article you were given in class on Friday, what are your thoughts on the cap and trade system? What do you think about the possibility of Oregon not waiting for the federal government?
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23 comments:
a cap and trade system seems like a good idea. it would reduce carbon emissions over time, encourage and benefit sustainable businesses, and discourage and harm unsustainable business practices.
but something that bothers me is that all of the regulations and carbon limitation goals would have to be approved by the senate in order for it to have any nationwide clout at all. Most of the US is powered by coal, and most states either mine or burn a lot of coal, so anything that would reduce this would seriously harm their states; their senators would likely vote against such a measure.
the idea that Oregon might jump the gun and start its own cap and trade would be good. local businesses would be better prepared for a federal system, giving them a leg up on the competition.
the bad part of this is that businesses would simply jump a few borders into neighboring states and run without such regulations, this would hurt Oregon. the state would be hurt even more if no federal system was put in place, businesses would flee the area and not come back.
I feel that a cap and trade system is the only way to lower emissions in Oregon, and actually any state in the US. Goals have been set to reduce emissions, however, little to no progress has been made in reaching those goals. The only way to reduce emissions is to essentially force companies to do so. This is not always easy, however it is a necessity in preserving our environment.
I think that Oregon has a high possibility of not waiting for the Federal Government. We, in Oregon (mainly Portland) have a very strong left-winged standpoint, this is a good start for a bill such as this to be possible. If a legislator in Oregon cares enough about something like this, then the people will most likely piggy-back that belief. It is very possible that Oregon can be a leader in this system to show that it is possible, and will not necessarily be detrimental to businesses in the long run.
Cap and trade is a legit idea, i support the bill. The trading of credits does make things a lot more complicated, but assures that a limit (the total credit amount) is not passed, and all companies have a chance to be given what they need.
Oregon should deffinatly put the "Cap and Trade" into effect ASAP, in order to inspire other states to do the same... having a positive domino effect to reduce emissions.
Ian fox
I agree with the cap and trade system, allowing us to make a limit on businesses overall output of carbon emissions. When it comes down to reverting to more clean energy alternatives i think that these "emission permits" will create at least some incentive to get comapnies to try to improve their overall pollution outputs. And to create better environemental habits or technologies to help them meet their emission limit.
Earlier this year we talked about incentives to keep people from having too many children, to help decrease global overpopulation, and this seems to be in the same ballpark. You create an incentive to help persuade someone to make a change and then you create stricter and larger backing to your incentive until you can reach your goal, wether in overpopulation and carbon emission rate.
I don't think we should just wait for some national cap-and-trade but have Oregon get ahead of the game with Calfornia and create local cap-and-trade systems, because there might be a chance that the bill won't go through and we will not have an instated cap-and-trade system, so if we can't globally instate it, at least pick away at the problem state by state. Climate change is here, are we done procrastinating?
The Cap and trade system seems like a really good idea. It has a lot of merit and would work really well in oregon.
However like peter said most states in the country burn coal for energy. And that would make this a difficult thing to pass nationwide.
It would have to work well in states like oregon and washington first in order to convince other states to give it a try.
It is my opinion that if we ever get the ball rolling on the cap and trade system, it would greatly improve our country's future
no matter how you look at it, a cap-and-trade system is a positive. entire states reduce their emmissions, and a new revenue flow is created , between businesses and the government as well as between two or more businesses. also, the government would be making a huge amount of money that could be spent on funding the research for more efficient power systems, or training people for green-collar jobs, etc.
i agree with peter in the respect that its going to be quite difficult to start it up on the federal scale, but if oregon gets ahead of the curve and decides to go with it, than the other states will realize that it is indeed possible, and they may follow suit.
i think it would be good for oregon and there would be quite a lot of publicity over it, but that mostly it would be good publicity and most people would approve of the change.
The cap and trade systems sounds like a generally good idea to me, especially on a federal level. Although it would be extremely difficult for it to be passed and agreed upon by all the states, I think it is a very important step in reducing our negative effects on the environment. Working towards lowering emissions and increasing our sustainability is certainly a good thing.
What really struck me, when I was reading other people's comments, was Peter's comment that if Oregon was the only state to instate this system many businesses would just move out of state. This is completely true and is a major drawback for Oregon not waiting for the federal government. If many of the businesses that were affected by the law just moved out of state all of the good that could be accomplished would be nonexistant. Although instating it in Oregon might cause others to see its value, it might just prove to other states that it isn't something they can afford to do.
In my opinion, the idea of the cap and trade sysytem is a good one. In fact, I don't see why we haven't already begun to start using it. If business' can slowly begin to be warmed up to the idea that they need to change what they are emitting into our environment then we could eventually get to the point where using a cap and trade system full on.
The amount of postivie things that the Cap and Trade system would bring out is far more then what wwe have now. Having laws that need to be looked up and are not usually stringly looked after isn't doing us a whole lot of good. If companies begin to see their money going elsewhere, to greener companies, and it becomes harder to have a company that is over emitting pollutants then they will see what an effect they are having on our environment and the government and its people can finally say when enough is enough, and big controlling companies will not have so much control over business anymore.
If we have to wait around for the federal government to suck it up and make this change we might be waiting far too long, so to help fasten up this process, individual states can decide to no longer support companies that are over the amount of pollution that we will allow. Sooner or later companies will need to abide to keep their strength. I believe that the cap and trade system, even if not taken on nationally, should be taken on locally, and we as citizens should do our homework to help do our part in saving our environment.
I think that the cap and trade system is a very clever idea to lower the total amount emissions. Especially the fact that it is lowered over time so that eventually the amount of emissions will not be enough to substantually hurt the environment. Also since companies can buy and sell credits amongst themselves there is still a cap to the amount of emissions but companies that dont need their credits are rewared because other companies need to buy theirs.
I think that Oregon should get started ASAP. If that means that we need to start it small and local by not supporting businesses that go over a set limit then we need to do that. As soon as we can set a good example of the cap and trade system the better. Once people see how easy and environmental friendly this system is it will spread quick.
I also agree with the cap and trade system,limiting carbon emissions will really benefit the western U.S. This is a great proposal and many people, especially oregon, would support it, but there are also many people i think who wouldnt want the bill to pass. Mainly big business who dont want things to change and to change there production costs.
I feel the cap and trade system would be a good idea and a positive view torward reducing carbon emissions, and sustaining a clean and renewable alternative to producing and distributing electricity. But im not enitrely sure how oregon would feel about this, with the bad economy, oregonians wouldn't want to pay higher taxes, because going into an alternative is pretty expensive,I feel like right now is the right time to go through this plan, but at the same time i feel like it wouldn't be taken into consideration very well, because of companies not wanting to change and sticking to a new system, and the limitations would have to be approved by the senate which would take alot of time and consideration. All i have to say is if this thing is going to go head under way it better be well regulated and ran properly or i can see a crisis approching.
Because so many people in the US depend on the use of coal power, creating a definite 'cap' is difficult- so the reason why this could work is because of the trade between businesses that emit less and those who find it difficult to reduce. But, a simple carbon emission tax is probably harder to financially manipulate than cap and trade, and a better option for the economy because of lower costs.
I think because Oregon is very strong in environmental action, there's a possibility Oregon could do this without waiting for the federal government. But, California is struggling slightly with the cap and trade system now so we might wait and see what happens with them first.
The cap and trade system is a good idea. It's always a good idea for carbon emissions to go down, so why not start with this? The environment is right up there with the economy when it comes to the top priorities in America today. So really, anything will help, even if it's the little things like: reducing carbon emissions in businesses. I think this would work best in Oregon out of any other states because were so "green" and businesses know that the more "green" they go, the more customers will want to give them business.
I agree with what most people are saying. The cap and trade system seems like a very good idea, but so is most other ideas that advertise the reduction of carbon emissions and give benefits to sustainable business. I agree with Peter that if we all of a sudden reduce our consumption of coal and oil, we could suverly hurt the financial stability of this country, which would effect countries worldwide. However, the cap and trade system does not state that it would be an stright drop but a step ladder down to a more sustainable future. Each new reduction would cause some stress but it would not cause total chaos. It seems to me that the only people that are adamantly lobblying against this system are the business corporations that have stock in the non sustainable energy sources such as coal, natural gas, and fuel. It's time that we move to a new outlook on our energy and if they can't adapt with the change then they should disappear. It's survival of the fittest.
Oregon has already shown that it wants to turn green. So, it's not that difficult to imagin that Oregon won't wait for the federal government.
I think the best thing about the cap and trade system is that it just simply "makes sense". Its sort of a way of channeling businesses' competetiveness into the green energy sector. When businesses are bidding and trading for these extra emissions allowances, it only serves to both heighten economic activity and it FORCES companies to either begin to change their emissions habits, or be possibly forced out of business. As far as this being a totally revolutionary application that will forever repair our air supply and strictly regulate emissions, that's just not going to happen. Big businesses will find ways to get tons of credits and continue their pollution, putting the pressure on others to clean up their acts, but I have faith in the system, and even if it doesn't change things all that much on the grand scale, it can't hurt. That's for sure.
I think the cap and trade system is a good idea. This would encourage companies to decrease there emmisions in order to sell their extra credits. The idea would also help small businesses get ahead because they will have more credits than needed which they can then sell to the major companies who are over the emissions limit.
I think oregon should move ahead and impliment the cap and trade system even before the nation. This system could work very well in Oregon because many companies are already cautious of emmisions. Cap and trade is going to be harder to pass on a national level because of the amount of coal burned through out the country but if implimented it could really help lower the US emissions levels
I'd have to say that I find a cap and trade system to be quite possibly the one way we could lower emissions in our state. And not just in our state of Oregon but in states across the country. Yeah I mean other goals on the whole reducing admissions have been made but yeah progress has been slow to say the least, the whole saying please and hoping everyone is going to say thank you isn't working out perfectly. At this point it really it seems like forcing the companies into submission is going to be our best if not our only answer. It's going to suck though because major corporations aren't exactly known for giving in very easily, but it's our environment and we had a duty to preserve and at this point save it.
When it comes to Oregon I can definitely see us not waiting for the Federal Government. Here in Oregon, more specifically Portland, we are pretty liberal in our views and we could be a good starting point for this whole thing to take off. If one state latches on to this, so yeah if a legislator from Oregon takes this up, someone, hopefully many others are likely to follow in their footsteps. With any luck Oregon will start something and it will have a snowball effect and this could end up having a huge beneficial result.
For Oregon, I think the cap and trade system would be a productive thing. It would not only guarantee carbon emissions to be reduced but it would also discourage harmful business practices that hinder the environment and that are also unsustainable.
Currently, the cap and trade system is the only logical and realistic way to lower emissions within the nation and that Oregon hasn't been subjected to this offer sooner is almost shocking.
The Cap and trade system is also useful in prompting government to step into gear and actually work on getting things done that concern environmental issues.
I don't believe Oregon should wait for the federal government because if we did that, we would get nowhere. They have a lot of other problems to solve and it would just take time to bring this issue to the politician's faces than Oregon merely taking on the challenge by itself.
wow, it is a brilliant idea. It reminds me a bit of a concept that we are learning about in Economics. Supply itself cannot be changed with the exception of a case in which the Factor of Supply changes (Production Costs). The best part about the cap + trade system to me is the trade... if a business is not complying, they will have to buy some other more efficient businesses' spare permits for emissions. This stimulates the economy, but it also costs the company unwilling to change a lot of money. By definition of the law of Supply, they will supply less of their product. when Supply decreases, price increases, and quantity demanded decreases. Essentially, other more efficient companies get the business that the less efficient companies lost as a result of buying permits!
The only problem I see with this is that it's a fairly complex system, from a broad view it seems easy - but I foresee many a court case over which companies get certain amounts of permits. I would imagine that it would encourage lies and more coverups to seem like they produce less output - typically the people with the money to do this are large conglomerates like GE (who are the companies that deserve these Production cost increases and competition the most). In short, it may hurt the smaller companies who can't afford to lie about their outputs as much as the larger companies - encouraging bis business and not small business.
I think it would be a great idea for Oregon to try this out before Federal gov brings it on (if) - Oregon has long been a very Liberal area (at least in the NW) and therefore provides fertile ground for ideas like this that are opposed by Conservatives. If it manages to survive in Oregon though, I imagine it would spread like wildfire, this is a wonderful thing - we need the Economic stimulus and the weight lifted from the Environment's shoulders. (imagine if this were to occur in Oregon, along with the return of the Electric car the Ev-02 from Nissan that is starting in OR. New charging stations are being installed and the other day Kulongoski rode in one for the news. The run off complete electricity and get 100 miles/charge. Look it up! Heads up in Portland! The Electric Car is NOT DEAD!) :p
I don't think Oregon should just wait for a national cap on trade bill to pass, but instead go ahead and dot it. Oregon already gets much of it energy from hydro and expanding wind power. We should not wait for everyone else to do the right thing if we know we can achieve it ourselves. Oregon could set an example for other states too, especially the ones that use coal as an energy source.
Of course it will be more difficult for these states, so they should be allowed more time. At least even if a company buys pollution and emission credits from other companies, it will still be helping the other non-polluting companies and may help create an incentive for other companies to pollute less.
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