Carbon Tax, or Rerouting Carbon To Renewables

Cate came under fire for supporting a carbon tax in Australia. The argument is always that the cost to the consumer is to high to move away from coal, but that is a false reasoning, because coal is not mined using money, it is mined using oil and coal, so the cost of coal is arbitrary and only depends on how rapidly you want to run out.

“Resource giant Rio Tinto has criticised the carbon tax” (source). No shit?

Carbon tax is an excellent idea because it forces coal and oil to be spend on making renewables. It does something banks refuse to do. It’s a loophole where the state takes control in service of it’s citizens to get something for them, instead of just letting them swim under the discretion of the carbon industry remaining unprepaired for the end of cheap oil and the climate catastrophy.

Energy Sovereignty

This only works for carbon producing countries, because if a country only imports oil, coal and gas it will see itself faced with threats to supplies (of money and thus fuel). It may be no coincidence that countries with abundant renewable resources like those in the south of Europe and Ireland are put under such stress. Iceland having tapped their geothermal sources a long time ago escaped easily becuase the state could provide for the basic energy needs.

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