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Time to repay
By Anurag Mehrotra
Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital Inc., predicted in 2006 that we were heading for an economic downturn.
“Experts” didn’t take him serious. It’s 2009 and some of the biggest companies have collapsed like a house of cards and
the “R” word is on everyone’s lips.
For most of us, seeing is believing; for others, the symptoms of impending disaster are sufficient to elicit preventive action.
A similar scenario of denial and indifference is being re-enacted in the case of climate change and global warming, which
has been stealthily creeping up on us for the last 25 years.
The rapid rate of urbanization, rising energy demands per capita, and our consumption-intensive lifestyles are putting
tremendous pressure on our fast-depleting energy resources. Economies around the world are increasingly dependent on
fossil fuels, which has led to skyrocketing levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Increasing temperatures are causing
sea levels to rise at the rate of ~1 mm/year (equivalent to the submergence of 425 acres of land). Glaciers are
disappearing at the rate of 50 ft/year, further raising sea levels! It won’t be long before we witness massive land loss and
mass migration, creating ecological refugees. In fact, it has already begun.
The time to debate on whether global warming is a myth or not has passed. The time for individuals and corporates to act
is now. Individual citizens, corporates and policy makers must jointly take steps toward creating energy policies to cap
industrial emissions, implementing tougher energy-efficiency standards, and providing subsidies to industries moving to
renewable energy sources. Economists are considering taxation and capping as the two main contenders for restricting
carbon emissions. While carbon taxes offer a profit incentive for devising carbon-reduction technology, historically
speaking, taxation only results in a shift of burden onto the consumer, leaving the actual issue - emissions - unchecked. A
well-designed carbon cap, on the other hand, provides more environmental certainty and, when coupled with tax-like
features, it becomes a surefire way to reduce emissions. While the cap vs. tax debate continues, the ultimate aim remains
- to stimulate the transition to renewable non-polluting energy sources, while maintaining tight control on emissions.
Man has borrowed heavily from this planet; it is time to repay some of this debt.
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