Carbon Taxes?
Poll: Greenhouse gas regulation favored over carbon taxes
Image: This image of protestors shows the debate between the taxation of carbon use and the regulation of greenhouse gases in our country. As is shown in the image, many people prefer not to pay more for their energy use, but to rather use less energy in the first place.
Summary: A recent poll run by Duke University shows that most U.S. citizens prefer a federal regulation on greenhouse gas emissions over taxation on carbon emissions. As environmental groups demand tougher climate policies from the White House, the climate bills are in the hands of Congress. The poll found that over 60% of Americans support regulation on greenhouse gas emissions from factories, automobiles, and power plants, while less than 30% support a rise in taxes on the use of fossils fuels that would be meant as an endeavour to enhance use of alternative energy. Support for this regulation rose when the possibility of a tax rebate would be offered to residents. The Obama Administration has already made several moves when it comes to auto mileage standards and carbon emission standards for power plants. However, environmentalists are still pushing for tougher standards on carbon emissions. The Duke poll also shows that only half of Americans acknowledge a change in the climate, while 34% say that a global climate change is “probably” occurring.
Opinion/Reflection: I find it funny how Americans agree that they’re need to be stronger regulations on carbon emissions, yet once we try to limit this greenhouse gas by proposing higher taxation, residents get all defensive, as if they don’t want to regulate their own carbon emissions. It is mainly everyday human activity, such as driving cars and using fossil fuels for energy that creates this problem when it comes to carbon emission in the first place. I feel that there should be higher taxation when it comes to carbon emissions, because that will force Americans to rely on alternative energy source that will be healthier for the environment.
Questions:
1.) If Americans want regulation on greenhouse gases, then why wouldn’t they want to start by regulating their own emissions?
2.) If there were a higher taxation for U.S. residents, would the emission of carbon possibly decrease, or would people just continue to pay to use their resources?
3.) If carbon emissions were regulated, what would be the strongest, healthiest energy alternative after?
Expand on the Topic:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.carbontax.org/
This link shows what is going on in the government concerning the carbon tax. It provides many details specific to the bill as opposed to the “people” side of things the initial post informed about.
I agree that it is easy for people to say that they want to make a difference and want to support the regulation of greenhouse gases. Although, it is hard for them to follow through and stop admitting their own carbon emissions by doing daily activities such as driving cars and using fossil fuels for energy. It really surprised me to see that 34% of the study said that they thought global warming was "probably" occurring. People most definetly need to become more informed and aware in order to make a difference in the issue of greenhouse gas regulation before the topic of taxes can be addressed. My question is in general, what is your opinion on the article?
ReplyDelete2.) If there were a higher taxation for U.S. residents, would the emission of carbon possibly decrease, or would people just continue to pay to use their resources?
ReplyDeleteI think that U.S residents would slowly decrease their carbon emission as taxes increased. The government would not make a significant tax increase at first, they would build it up slowly, and as this occurs many U.S. residents due to their economic state would be forced to not use as much of things like gas for their car, and gas for their heater. In Europe gas prices are much higher then they are in America. This makes many Europeans rely on public transportation and their own two feet to get to and from where they need to go. Since prices are so high, many people can not afford financially to drive, not to mention they (we) can not afford to make such a large carbon footprint from excessive car use.
I thought that the Carbon Tax Center was a good choice because they have a website dedicated to educating people about Carbon Taxes and what we can do to decrease our carbon footprint. This website blogs in order to get their point across. By doing this they understand that since a lot of topics in science, especially Environmental do not have exact answers and perfect solutions in how we can aid in improving our world, they understand the importance of opinions in the scientific world.
ReplyDeleteHello,
My name is Rebecca Benner and I am a sophomore at Hatboro Horsham High School. I came across this website when I was researching to learn more about carbon taxes and how they could affect me in my future. A few of my classmates and I have created a blog as a class assignment to keep up to date with important scientific topics that correlate with what we are learning in the class. After reading the article- Poll: Greenhouse gas regulation favored over carbon taxes my eyes have been open to how much of a major problem carbon emissions are, and how very few people are actually doing anything about it. I would greatly appreciate to know your opinion on this article and/or this topic in general. If you could please comment on this blog post at: http://goldengirlsscienceblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/carbon-taxes.html that would be great!
Thank you,
Rebecca Benner