sooooooo tonee bliar is worried about the latest scientific report that suggests that we are going to kill the planet... his answer?... green taxes!

 

what a pile of shyte!

 

any tax on energy will hit the poor whilst the rich continue to fritter away their money without any change. all it does would be to raise even more money, but what for?

 

now whilst i fully support any sensible attack on pollution, there is just no point in us doing it alone. why should i forgo holidays in the sun, hiked up petrol prices, and a drop in my standard of living when other countries refuse to co-operate? im buggered if im going to fel the pinch whilst some fat yank continues to pollute, or to allow some fat cat director to line his pockets by non compliance (hence bigger profits)

 

as ever, whilst there MIGHT (and im far from convinced that the latest experts know enough about the intricacies of the planets climate) be a problem looming, it has to be tackled sensibly by everyone, and not just the ordinary brit.

I think that Lord on Newsnight summed it up well in that the price of oil has risen by 3 times since Kyoto yet its consumption hasn't lowered. If there is going to be any green taxes to reduce enery use and reduce carbon emissions it needs to be incredibly substantial as it's so price inelastic!

slapping a massive tax on fuel though will only hit the poor, itll fuel inflation as we want more wages to cover the costs and to top it all, most of the developing countries or the selfish bast*rds like america just wont comply.... making our efforts totally in vain!

I have to say that I dont particularly care about things like Richmond council's plan to hike up parking charges for idiots who own these bloody great, ugly 4x4 things, as far as I'm concerned you've no business owning one of these things in a suburban area (Christ, they're bloody off road vehicles, what's it gonna be next, driving a tank down the high-street...? <_< ), but the home fuel taxes are a bad idea imo, I dont think I can really object to the Tories doing it back in the day and then let Labour off the hook...

If done properly, they could work. At the minute, aviation fuel is not taxes, which is ridiculous. Taxing that will not tax the poor. No poor person needs a winter break to Malaga.

 

The overall use of oil is still increasing, because at a global level, we are still oil-centric and place too much value on the car. However, after Hirricane Katrina (a very expensive consequence of climate change) when oil prices increased, a lot of Americans did reconsider the type of vehicle they drive. The reason Americans continued to drive great big, inefficient cars compared with in Europe is because petrol was so cheap for them.

 

There needs to be a way to ensure the poor are not left incapable of getting about or heating their homes, but as climate change will affect the poor far more than the rich, if anyone is seriously concerned with helping the poor, they'll support greater action. The money from taxing fuel needs to go into considerable, long-term investment into the railways and other public transport mechanisms. It needs to go into investment into renewable energy development.

 

There also needs to be a shift in thinking, so that people no longer see gas guzzling 4 x 4s as a status symbol and while the Daily Mail is getting all defiant about charging people to park outside their own home, they overlooked the detail about smaller engined and more environmentally friendly car owners getting a discount!

If done properly, they could work. At the minute, aviation fuel is not taxes, which is ridiculous. Taxing that will not tax the poor. No poor person needs a winter break to Malaga.

 

The overall use of oil is still increasing, because at a global level, we are still oil-centric and place too much value on the car. However, after Hirricane Katrina (a very expensive consequence of climate change) when oil prices increased, a lot of Americans did reconsider the type of vehicle they drive. The reason Americans continued to drive great big, inefficient cars compared with in Europe is because petrol was so cheap for them.

 

There needs to be a way to ensure the poor are not left incapable of getting about or heating their homes, but as climate change will affect the poor far more than the rich, if anyone is seriously concerned with helping the poor, they'll support greater action. The money from taxing fuel needs to go into considerable, long-term investment into the railways and other public transport mechanisms. It needs to go into investment into renewable energy development.

 

There also needs to be a shift in thinking, so that people no longer see gas guzzling 4 x 4s as a status symbol and while the Daily Mail is getting all defiant about charging people to park outside their own home, they overlooked the detail about smaller engined and more environmentally friendly car owners getting a discount!

 

Aviation fuel would still tax the poor - you're forgetting companies like Ryanair or easyJet, they would be put out of business virtually because their target market, the poor, wouldn't afford the flights at all.

 

No, I'm not forgetting about the poor. I just have a different opinion of who the poor are. I don't consider a person who can currently afford a weekend away thanks to cheap flights on Easy Jet as poor, and the whole point is that the planet we all live on cannot afford to have everyone taking all these flights.

 

If you think not being able to go to Malaga for your Summer holidays is poverty, just be glad you aren't living in any of the South Sea islands that will no longer exist when sea levels rise. What about the famines caused by crop failures? If you can't imagine that, just think how much your home insurance will increase when hurricanes become normal in the UK? The US Government spent in excess of 80bn pounds simply to contribute to the physical repairs following Hurricane Katrina. That's £10 for every single person on the planet right now. Never mind what was paid up by insurance companies, or the loss of life, or social or emotional costs to people who lost their homes. Then there were the financial losses to people who had businesses and the price of petrol in the UK went up as a direct result too.

 

The Stern report says that each and every one of us will be paying a hell of a lot more to cope with the natural disasters that will become more and more frequent in the years to come. If we are willing to invest now in cleaner technologies, or sacrifice the right to fly at the drop of a hat, we'll save money in the longer term. The whole report can be summarised with my granny's favourite saying "a stitch in time saves nine".

The americans pay some of the cheapest petrol prices in the world, no president will allow them to rise to realistic levels,as he would be more unpopular than Satan himself.The US are the largest polluters on Earth,they are are always first in everything(well in their opinion,anyway)

Yes, and for all their complaints that developing countries like China are emitting more and more carbon year on year, per head of population, Americans emit six times as much CO2 as the Chinese.

 

The Bush administration is only just beginning to admit that climate change is happening and might just be linked to human activities. :unsure:

taxing aviation fuel WILL tax the poor of course as it will push holiday prices out of the affordable bracket whilst the rich can continue to indulge in their lifestyle.