Wall Street Journal: Capitalism Will Solve the Climate Problem

Echoing the theme of my most recent book (Bullish on Renewable Energy), the Wall Street Journal concludes that the forces of free market capitalism is in the process of saving the day, vis-a-vis climate change.  Of course, this is hardly a surprise since, for the right-leaning WSJ, capitalism is the cure for everything.

A few points:

• Capitalism requires limitless growth of consumerism, which can’t happen on a planet of finite size.

• Even if they wanted to, corporate executives are not at liberty to take environmentally sensitive actions if they hurt their companies’ bottom lines.

• For pure market economics to work, the markets themselves must be free and fair.  As long as no one’s picking up the tab for using our oceans and skies as waste disposal facilities, the cost of things like renewable energy and other elements of cleatech will always remain artificially high.

Fortunately, there are solutions that work within the confines of capitalism while creating incentives for environmental stewardship, a good example of which is Carbon Fee and Dividend.

The main issue in all of this, of course, is that government is required to help, and the level of corruption in government is monstrous.  We don’t have a swamp; at this point we have a cesspool, a septic tank of leaders that are responsive only to the demands of rich donors, and completely insensitive to the will of the people.

The only bright light is that millions of U.S. citizens are so disgusted and frustrated that they’re getting involved in record numbers, especially young people, who are registering to vote in throngs.