British MPs Call for "Carbon Ration Cards"

Every adult in Britain should be forced to carry 'carbon ration cards', say MPs

By David Derbyshire
Last updated at 1:08 AM on 27th May 2008

Every adult should be forced to use a 'carbon ration card' when they pay for petrol, airline tickets or household energy, MPs say.

The influential Environmental Audit Committee says a personal carbon trading scheme is the best and fairest way of cutting Britain's CO2 emissions without penalising the poor.

Under the scheme, everyone would be given an annual carbon allowance to use when buying oil, gas, electricity and flights.

- www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1021983/Every-adult-Britain-forced-carry-carbon-ration-cards-say-MPs.html


Patrick Michaels, Cato senior fellow in environmental studies, comments:

"Britain's parliamentary proposal to require all adults to carry a 'carbon ration card' would result in the absolute destruction of personal privacy with no detectable impact on global climate. The proposed card would track virtually all personal movements and purchases (including food), reporting them to the government. The cost of the loss of privacy is outweighed by absolutely no climatic benefit. The United Kingdom is a minor emitter of carbon dioxide, accounting for a tiny fraction compared to the emissions of China, now the world's largest source of carbon dioxide, where there is certainly no attempt to reduce personal use of energy.

"Further, for such a program to be effective, the cost of energy would have to be so high that the British economy would grind to a halt. Stabilizing atmospheric carbon dioxide requires 60-80% reductions in emissions worldwide. Here in the United States, $4.00 per gallon gasoline is cutting use by a few percent. What price is required for an 80% reduction, and is this worth surrendering virtually all of one's privacy to the government?"

- www.cato.org/pressroom.php?display=ncomments&id=30

 

Which is an advantage that Bob Barr has over both Senator Obama and Senator JSM III.

 

We'll see. We shall see.

At least as a libertarian I still have hope in the general election. Conservatives have none if they stick with Senator JSM III. Even if he wins, conservatives lose.

 

Maybe, carpro. But I am going to have a whole lot more fun for the next 5.5 months than conservatives who support Senator JSM III are going to have.

 

A good point, dragonfly.