Media

From Wesleyan: An Energized Call to Price Carbon

By Charles Komanoff, Carbon Tax Center, 11/22/10
“Over 500 people participated in the panels, workshops and strategy meetings, which began Friday evening and continued into Sunday afternoon. A majority were students, including 175 members of Students For a Just and Stable Future, a dynamic activist organization that began in Massachusetts and has spread across New England. Non-students were well represented too, with activists, policy professionals and concerned citizens from two dozen states and Canada. Opinion was unanimous -- among presenters and participants alike -- that the conference was a vital and worthwhile experience. And as of Sunday morning, Wesleyan’s IT staff had counted 33,000 hits to their site streaming conference video…

Veteran activist Ted Glick, policy director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, summed it up neatly: ‘There was a positive and energetic spirit throughout the conference. One reason for this was the conscious structuring of the conference to maximize opportunities for participation by all of those in attendance; e.g., by limiting the amount of time for speakers in plenaries and workshops, to allow for more time for questions and dialogue. It was also because the co-sponsoring groups and many of the people who participated believe that the demise of the cap and trade model for comprehensive climate legislation opens up the possibility that a much better approach to pricing carbon and reducing greenhouse gas emissions can now become the preferred national approach. And it was due to the positive combination of a cross-section of older activists, scholars, political leaders and heads of organizations interacting with large numbers of students and youth seriously interested in and passionate about the climate issue.’”

Attention Cap-and-Trade Fans: The Carbon Tax People Are Not Going Away

By Samantha Thompson, Grist, 11/22/10.
“This past weekend, about 500 people gathered at Wesleyan College in Middletown, Conn., for the Pricing Carbon Conference. But most of the participants weren't excited about pricing carbon via cap-and-trade; they were all about carbon taxes… The conference was a virtual who's who of carbon-tax supporters. Four members of the U.S. House spoke -- Reps. Bob Filner (D-Calif.), Bob Inglis (R-S.C.), John Larson (D-Conn.), and Jim McDermott (D-Wash.). So did author and 350.org activist Bill McKibben, climate scientist James Hansen, Carbon Tax Center founder Charles Komanoff, and EPA lawyers and cap-and-trade rebels Laurie Williams and Allan Zabel… The conference also fell short in terms of diversity… Gaining a broader base would undoubtedly help not just the carbon-tax movement, but all environmentalists. Despite its weaknesses, the conference brought together a fantastic group of public-minded citizens and activists to thoughtfully discuss where to take the movement from here. Cap-and-trade isn't the only game in town, they stressed. Not if they have anything to do with it.”

Pricing Carbon Conference

By Brian Stewart, The Middletown Eye, 11/21/10.
“Wesleyan's Pricing Carbon conference started Friday [11/19] and concluded [11/21] on Sunday (see previous post on Day 1 here). It was an ambitious attempt to bring many minds together to brainstorm a new approach to pricing fossil fuel consumption to reduce carbon dioxide emissions while minimizing the economic impact on individuals. In terms of attendance and the enthusiasm of its participants, it was an enormous success… In particular, the many students in attendance, especially those associated with the group Students for a Just and Stable Future, were a source of energy and inspiration.”

The National Academy of Sciences has repeatedly pointed to an economy-wide carbon pricing system as the most important policy for reducing emissions.