Carbon Taxes Should Go To FEMA - Who Else?

Climate Change, Anthropocene, & Associated Issues

Date posted: 10/08/13

Probably the most effective use of a carbon tax is for developing climate preparedness, i.e., strengthening those agencies and infrastructure that can best help us withstand, and recover from, the worst effects of a changing climate. Agencies such as FEMA, NOAA, NASA, CDC, NIH, EPA, FDA and the U.S. Coast Guard should have their budgets dramatically increased. Yes, any carbon tax we end up generating needs to go to those people who are critical to saving our lives, now and into the future. The latest word on global warming came out of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change last week and its conclusions are even stronger than the last one in 2007 (IPCC draft report): The report indicates that warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, sea level has risen, and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased. Yes, increases in CO2 emissions will continue and will cause great changes. Yes, droughts will get worse, flooding will get worse, pestilence will get worse, etc., etc., etc.