London’s Independent Online offers a thought-provoking list of actions for government, though the deSmogBlog team hates the idea of regulatory bodies intervening to make air travel more expensive. The suggestion that government should try to get the U.S. to take climate change seriously also assumes that the government in is itself taking the issue seriously – all evidence to the contrary in Canada. As for cranking up the cost of huge, gas-guzzling, space-consuming vehicles: if people want to consume conspicuously, they should be proud to pay a premium. Make the premium big enough – and direct the entire amount to alternative energy research – and people will be able to boast that buying an SUV is part of their personal strategy for defending the environment.
