Rain-Making and Benefunder - by James Hansen

The essential spur required to phase down fossil fuel emissions is a rising carbon fee.  Only a few major nations must agree, e.g., China and the United States.  Most of the world would follow, induced by the desire to avoid border duties and modernize energy infrastructure.

Other things are needed, especially technology development, but those things will be hastened by a rising carbon fee.

So why is an agreement on a carbon fee at Paris in December 2015 not a foregone conclusion?

The old excuse, that it would be costly, has been shot down.  A steadily rising carbon fee, if it is revenue neutral via 100% dispersal of the funds to the public, stimulates the economy, increasing jobs and the GDP (see REMI study commissioned by Citizens Climate Lobby).

The problem is a combination of (1) widespread ignorance of what is needed, and (2) the power (money) of special interests who prefer the status quo.  Overcoming such formidable obstacles requires a multi-prong strategy, as we have discussed, e.g., in The Wheels of Justice.

The organization that I now direct, Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions (CSAS), aims to contribute to that strategy.  We want to

1. help advance the climate science, because uncertainty remains about the nature and speed of human-made climate effects, as well as the best ways to minimize climate change and climate impacts,
2. describe research progress with a clarity that helps achieve broader public awareness, and
3. “connect the dots” all the way from the basic climate science to the implications for policy solutions.

Read More at Rain-Making and Benefunder - by James Hansen