[phaster]

the economy and the environment are showing symptoms of being unsustainable, just kinda curious what laundry of economic and environmental policies you would like to see, that might address some of the problems. I figure by listing down some ideas and having other people look them over and offer constructive criticism, then it might be possible to form a general consensus for a more sustainable economic and environmental policy...

I realize any list posted is going to reflect a personal bias, and back ground experience, along with a nationality and social-economic slant, but figure since no one group or individual has all the answers, this would be an interesting intellectual exercise.

so for your pleasure here are some of economic and environmental policies I've kinda been thinking about.....

(1) Since I'm from the USA, the first thing I'd implement is a national max speed limit of 55 MPH, this is because I know from physics drag increases as the square of velocity so basically the slower ya drive the less fuel ya burn...

(2) I'd mandate CAFE standards

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_ ... el_Economy

be increased to 40 MPG "energy equivalent" by 2012, and then step it up to 60 MPG by 2020 "energy equivalent." Personal transportation in the USA is very car centric, and looking at the problem it seems kinda crazy to me to build vehicles like SUVs to drive around town in. I've actually got an SUV myself (a landcruiser) but I don't drive it unless I truly need it for what I've outfitted it for, basically camping in some pretty remote areas like far off the paved roads in baja, utah, etc...

in exchange for this much higher CAFE standard, I'd open up the coast and wilderness areas to the exploring for oil, natural gas and coal BUT this would be contingent upon an agreement that areas would be restored to their former conditions (no more of externalizing environmental costs for short terms financial gain).

(3) I'd be interested in promoting long term stable markets, so to prevent rampant market manipulation, I'd have a hard and fast rule of 3 day settlements with proof that securities were actually owned no matter if the the security or commodity contract was resold in that time period... This would be to prevent the problem of naked shorts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_short_selling

(4) Related to promoting long term stable markets, I'd keep the long term 15% capital gains tax in place BUT I'd increase the time period to this low tax threashold to be a longer time period of say 5 years. I'd introduce a medium term capital gains tax of 22.5% to be defined by a period of holding a bond, security or commodity contract to be the perod of between 1 and 5 years, and a short term capitals gains tax of 30% to be any period less than 1 year.

figure when ya have specific rules and taxes like my rules "3 and 4" then ya introduce certainity into the markets, and encourage investing and discourage the las vegas betting mentaility.

(5) I'd mandate term limits on all politicians, personally I think one of the biggest problems the USA faces as a nation is career politicians who don't understand the science or issues and they make laws and institute accordingly.

Since one of the problems I see with politicians is pandering to political contributors, I'd find a way to have public financing of elections (say some kind of escrow account that would allow for political contributions) and have stricter rules for full public disclosure of lobbyist junkets.

(6) Basic understanding or rather the lack there of is a major problem with the general public unable to see benefits of educating the poor and being custodians of the environment, so I'd like to institute a mandatory 4 month public service draft, to at least expose various individuals to a different realities.

For example I'd like to take inner city minority kids and make them work in a national forest on conservation projects, and lets say privileged kids from the suburbs on their way to college, I'd have these individuals serve as elementaryt tutors in the inner city...

(7) As far public education, I think one of the big problems here in the USA is the pre-conception that a white collar college degree is an end all and be all. I kinda like what Germany does with its apprenticeship programs

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... 39,00.html

(8) I'm not very religious in the traditional sense, but I realize there are lots of zealot christian fundamentalists in the USA who have a big influence on USA politics. So to give them and the rest of society an appreciation for the role of various religions through history, I'd like to have a course taught in all public and private schools a comparative religious studies course so there are less misconceptions and thus fears about something not so familiar.

personally this is something I wish president bush and his adminstration had done more of, cause if they understood the history and politics of the middle east I don't think he would have been so gun ho to use US military forces in that region...

(9) Being fiscally prudent and aware, I'd also increase the retirement age in the USA to 70 or higher and look at having an open public debate about some of the new deal programs such as social security, medicare and medicade.

This is because if ya actually look at these social programs, they are as unsustainable and fiscally imprudent (in their current forms), as subprime lending was!!!!!!

(10) Another huge problem people and politicians are ignoring is the climate change. As it stands in-action and refusal by president bush to acknowledge the CO[sub]2[/sub] problem is making the problem much worst and in the long run more expensive to deal with...

I'm not a big fan of T Boone, pickins politics because I think he is a political hack, but I have to admit that at least he is presenting some kind of economically and environmentally viable alternative to business as usual (which is ignoring that there is a problem in the first place).


well there have it my top 10 list of things that kinda bug me, so what yours?

[gt1370a]

Replace the child tax credit with a child tax penalty.

[Tanada]

Make it illeagle to build new fossil fuel electric generating plants and grandfather existing plants to be closed at a rate of 5% of the current number each year for 20 years.

Make it illeagle to compost yard waste, all of it needs to be buried to sequester as much carbon as we can as quickly as we can. If all the yard clipping from across the USA were compacted into landfill instead of composted we would put a lot of organic carbon back into the ground.

[Bella]

I gotta agree on a lot of these but I'd like to add a few, fer instance...1, gun safety training in public schools, with marksmanship as a varsity sport (along with fencing).
2, End the war on drugs, it's lost and has been for years. Prohibition didn't work and the war on drugs is a civil war on the American poor ( the rich get off or just aren't busted). Legalize cannabis and tax the bejesus out of it to fund drug rehab for junkies and speed freaks. Cut loose all those "drug offenders" we are paying to feed and house (except the violent guys, keep them, we might need more psycopaths in the next war)
3, Begin a major program to industrialize space, starting with Lagrange point colonies and "mining" expiditions to the asteroids. Cheap solar pv cells, cheap raw materials, unlimited power and you can literally "drop ship" goods to anywhere on the globe. Power sats can even beam power where its needed.
4, Emphasize some REAL morality and ethics, It is (or it should be) unethical to profit from someone elses pain and anguish. As it is possible to be too poor, it is also possible to be too rich. Teach that it is incumbent on those who have benifited the most from our society to assist unfortunates in need. Establish a income floor and an income ceiling, and insure that the government taxes away every dime over that ceiling. Revoke corporate "rights". Reestablish that a corporation is not a person, and therefore is not entitled to any human rights. Greed is not a virtue.
5, Government should make every effort to encourage sustainable communities and power sources. There should be grants for folks to solarize their houses and building codes should be wrested from the hands of developers and redrawn to facilitate durable lasting and energy efficient housing. Arcologies, geodesic domes and earth sheltered housing should be given every advantage. No one should have to live in a house that blows away in the wind. Housing is a human right, just like medical care.
Don't tell me that these are grandiose ideas and there isn't enough money to pay for all of this, there would be plenty of funds if pirates hadn't been allowed to game the system for the last 40 years. We need to take it ALL back from that 1% who now control 51% (or more) of all the wealth in the nation. And don't tell me that 99% of Americans are helpless against the mere 1%. We aren't, and that is what they are afraid of.

[Tyler_JC]

1. Carbon tax on all users above a certain limit (25,000 tons?) and a general carbon tax on things like gasoline, coal, electricity. It's hard to measure the carbon footprint of a bottle of bleach so you have to put the tax on the corporation, not the consumer. As for gasoline, it's easy to tax the consumer so that's where you put the tax.

2. Corporate taxes bring in $350 billion in revenue with a tax rate of 35%. A 10% tax rate would bring in $100 billion in revenue. The resulting deficit is $250 billion.

The US emits 6 billion ton of carbon. Let's assume that only 5 billion of that is really taxable because let's face it, how do you measure a Boy Scout camp fire?

$50 a ton times 5 billion tons is $250 billion.

And the resulting economic boom from such a dramatic cut in corporate taxes would easily pay for the consumer dislocations of the carbon tax.

What does $50 a ton look like in terms of gasoline, natural gas, etc?

Gasoline: 50 cents a gallon
Coal: $80-100 a ton (screw coal)
Natural Gas: $3 per thousand cubic feet
Electricity: 4 cents per KWH
Solar, Wind, Hyrdoelectric, geothermal, tidal: ZERO

Do any of those price increases seem impossible to deal with?

I have a feeling we'd see a lot more smaller cars, sweaters in cool houses, solar panels on rooftops, etc. if the carbon tax were implemented.

It would basically solve most of the problems of Peak Oil and climate change.

3. School choice. Break up the teachers' gestapo ("unions") and force them to provide real education to students.

4. Fix the zoning laws and kill the HOAs. Why can't I have a clothes line? What's wrong with growing vegetables on my front lawn? What's wrong with a home wind turbine?

5. Allow/encourage shareholders to vote on executive pay packages. No more 20 million dollar bonuses for crappy CEOs.

6. END THE ETHANOL SUBSIDY.

7. End the war on drugs.

8. Hmm...give me a couple million bucks for coming up with all the good ideas?

That is pretty much it. Enact those policies and you'd see things turn around nicely.

[americandream]

I would rather see a systemic response rather than policy initiatives which I see as of limited effect when the fault, as I see it, lies with a system designed for unlimited use of resources.

We cannot reasonably blame capitalism for doing what it does best which is churn out transformed product ad nauseum with the resultant complications (system and problems) without putting forward viable equal solutions.

Consequently I prefer a socio-economic system that balances all our various needs, be they economic, emotional, community, planetary etc. in a mix in which there is some balance. I would suggest that pure socialism (not some Chinese, or Scandinavian or "social democratic" variant) is the best option coupled with a high degree of political awarness and engagement.

In other words, pure democratic socialism in which the choice is between the best managers of a balanced society which is aware of its responsibilities, resourcing, climate, etc, etc. rather than these vague appeals we currently have to god, country and liberty or conversely, environment, social justice, fair trade, blah blah blah.

[mos6507]

Make it illeagle to compost yard waste

Doesn't this fly in the face of all the peak oilers trying to cultivate their doomsteads?

[mos6507]

1. Carbon tax on all users above a certain limit (25,000 tons?) and a general carbon tax on things like gasoline, coal, electricity.

I'm all for this because it helps address the tragedy of the commons by putting an IMMEDIATE pricetag on actions that have long-term consequences we're usually blind to.

Like when I rented a car a week and a half ago, Enterprise let me tack on a carbon credit. Instead of opting into it, imagine that kind of fee being tacked on every carbon-heavy purchase like a sales tax.

That would generate a tremendous winfall that could be plowed back into de-carbonizing society.

People are going to hate it, though. So I don't see it happening.

[Farmboy]

Isolate the United States, live within our borders and ignore the rest of the world.

[Peleg]

Ok,...I'll bite.

However if these ideas get used I expect a check for one year's salary. I'll take the median of the President, a Senator, and a Member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Now that was insolent! Honk, honk.

Then again we should not take this little forum so lightly, people might be watching. It is clear I am only a mediocre basketball player, but I might be able to add to the American Experience in other ways.

Policy wish list writ large:

1) Mahattan Project for Energy (US takes the lead) - Every facet, cradle to grave, a true comprehensive national energy policy with meetings that are not conducted behind closed doors, that recognizes the immediate need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and get's to work on that with substantive policies starting asap. Peak Oil, called such, must be the front and center, the complete understanding of how human usage has brought us both peak oil and climate change, education of the public about these issues through non-partisan programming, perhaps in the new web video standards like movenetworks. Contingencies should be formed for all possible scenarios. Emergency management professionals should include relocalization plans as part of their arsenal to minimize harm. America can survive relocalization. It's less likely to survive anarchy and civil war caused by lack of proper planning for a liquid fuels shortage.

2) Funding for a new social dialogue to try to diffuse the culture wars between conservative Christians and liberals on two unique poles [before we find ourselves with monthly retaliation shootings in churches from both sides and dams being blown up in Wisconsin.]
a) there is a covert series of moves being done by gay activists to target those who speak openly in opposition to complete and unbridled acceptenace of the gay lifestyle in any venue (including religious protected speech.) Christians on the other hand have largely become indifferent to the way in which rejection by society has become a denial of human dignity for LGBT people all across the country. What I see happening is the LGBT activists getting much more aggressive while the rank and file are going along for the ride not realizing that they are the one's who will have to live in the communities that are being targeted. Religious freedom protects the right of Christians to consider homosexual activity sin, to choose not to associate with anyone (gay or straight) who opposes their religion. It does not give us the right to deny others the feedom to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. I have outlined for several people in government ideas for removing the issue from the government rolls once and for all. Simply recognize everywhere a legal distinction between the civil component of a union and it's religious content. Thus any two humans can, for purposes of declaring a dependency, enter into a civil union, that is the government side. Since 'marriage' is a matter of religious and personal viewpoint and not a sacrament to everyone, the new laws would leave it up to individual clergy, churches, and couples to decide if their civil union is going to be considered a 'marriage.' This has the effect of leaving religious people free to exercise their religious freedom and not sanction gay marriage. It leaves LGBT couples free to seek out those pastors who will support them if they so choose, and the government is left out of it altogether. After this landmark turn, I would sit down with a working group of influential and reasonable people on both sides to really study and understand the key points that are causing friction and then use moneys raised from both sides to promote social programs that lead to the only possible solution which is tolerance, not acceptance (which would involve coercing people to accept what you think is true even if they do not.) Tolerance. The alternative is the sixties times ten, as one outrageous action leads to more outrageous reactions. Everyone knows by now, 'Your queer your here, get used to it.' Soon we are going to start hearing the rumbling of a very unhappy center right saying 'We're straight. You're too late. Back off or face the consequences.' The reason this will happen is that acts based upon sexual orientation fall under freedom of association both in the seeking and the refusing, there is no right to force one's opinion or sexual interest into the lives of others guaranteed in the Constitution, and there never could be. Closeted gays do not have the right to hover around the cubicles of those they secretly want to bouff. That is sexual harassment. We just went though decades of litigation trying to get powerful men to understand that female secretaries are not concubines. Therefore, if a person's religion, protected under the clause of freedom of religion, teaches them that something is not pleasing to their god, they cannot be coerced to change or intimidated in anyway for holding those views. Society will have to find a way beyond this problem and steps will have to be taken rather quickly to defuse some of the more heinous abuses that are going on currently. Of note are some of the biases appearing in defacto pro-LGBT hiring practices within companies and universities in an attempt to make a place for a persecuted minority. This attempt to heal the wounds of indifference, and often greater abuse, cannot go so far that the abused use this influence to stage any form of attack against other protected groups within the Union. If you are filled with hate, get a good counselor, if you act on it, to harass or harm, to stalk using social networks, or harm in any way law abiding citizens, you are a criminal.
b) It is time for there to be a permanent non-interference policy regarding the EPA. Science cannot be made subject to politics on issues like global warming, biodiversity and habitat destruction, overuse, endangered species... Externalities to the current economic system must be incorporated in some way, whether that is through market mechanisms, or command and control, these important costs of the way humans live (especially regarding our use of fossil fuels) must be integrated. The EPA should not be a Cabinet level position, but rather more like something under the National Academy of Sciences which should be elevated to well nigh a branch of government, well at least to that of an unbiased advisor to the Congress, Court, and President.

3) Internet and Social Network Reform - Children are being given access to pornography and preditors given access to children on the Internet at unbelievable rates. Internet Crime is the fastest growing area of crime. Identity Theft is rising at a startling rate. All of these crimes are made almost unsolvable because the Internet allows for a zero accountibility network where all the worst in people is free to carouse and often does. Billions of dollars of band width on the Internet is currently tied up by the 400 million porn sites. Operation Sanitize needs to do some scrub-a-dub-dub. Also, cyber-bullying is not a joke. Using your blackberry to stalk someone because they are 'uncool' is not the same as staying safe by staying connected. The children of this country (and this generation) are being given ever more toys that any trained monkey can use, and being taught less and less about the ethics that should govern our use of those tools.

4) The war on terror should shift to a cooperative international police effort with UN support through the security counsel so that severe cases of national collusion can be dealt with by force only if absolutely necessary. The nations of the world should also take very seriously failed states on any front. Just as the United States of America would remove from office any State governor who engaged in violence against rivals or left his people to starve, so the family of nations must not think it untoward to work to remove a man like Robert Mugabe, who has said 'Only God can remove me from power.' How right you are Robert, and history tells us that eventually He will.

All four of these broad issues actually rise to the level of global issues in which the United States is now inextricably linked. By taking the appropriate domestic policy steps we can lead in mitigating all of these problems. In order for America to move ahead it must find a new moral guidepost for the 21st century. American labor should be protected from sudden outflows of jobs by progressive tarrifs when needed, not completely insulated from the competition and benefits of globalization. The goal that almost everyone agrees on is that the world from here (assuming a soft to moderate scenario for peak oil) can only become more and more connected. Failing to provide the will and mechanism for that further union to be a just union, damns our children to a world run by oligarchs and plutocracy, despots, and desperation, social warfare leading to uncivilized ends.

That someday there could arise madmen capable of turning it all to evil ends does not mean we forsake the good that could come for fear of the evil that others may do. Good people everywhere must be evident in all venues as moderating voices. There are far more moderates in the world than radicals. Government should help the cause by serving the good. Only God can rule the universe. It is given to the rest of us to serve and use our powers humbly and with wisdom.

[MrBill]

Government - mandatory balanced budgets and a strict time limit to pay back outstanding debt. Exception: project bonds that are tied directly to a defined revenue stream with a fixed duration not longer than 25-years.

Central Bank - mandatory neutral interest rate policy never below headline inflation. Exception: where interest rates need to be higher to combat imported inflation.

Environment - nothing less than sustainable development. Exception: no alternative (i.e. finite resources)

Politics - strict term limits for politicians - not more than 8 years at anyone level of public service. Exception: moving from local to state to federal politics based on merit.

Social - mandatory 1-year term of national community service. No exceptions.

Finance - 25% downpayments, maximum 25-year mortgages, no mortgages beyond retirement age (70), fixed rate mortgages, no government backed mortgage insurance

Business - mandatory jail sentences for senior executives for serious crimes such as financial fraud or knowingly breaking environmental laws

General - zero population growth - fines and jail time for offenders plus loss of child rearing privileges. Mandatory child support by both parents.

Prison - 3-strikes and you're out. streamline appeals process. speed-up capital punishment for serious crimes like rape and murder. Mandatory DNA testing for all convicted criminals.

Water policy - green zones along all major watersheds. No agriculture or development in the green zones. Mandatory water recycling. Exception: controlled access to water for beaches, ports, public access, etc.

Credit - central credit bureau. no credit card debt in excess of one month's documented salary. demonstrated ability to repay. no credit of any kind beyond 33% of documented salary. burden on credit providers to cross reference with credit bureau

Healthcare - mandatory health insurance. No exceptions. Basic universal healthcare. No health insurance coverage for any elective surgery. Strict guidelines what is and what is not elective surgery. No prolongation of life beyond what is deemed reasonable (i.e. no life is worth $100 million or more in medical coverage, and it is not reasonable to expect to be kept alive on life support if there is no reasonable hope of a recovery). Health insurance premiums rise for obese people.

Retirement - fully vested individual retirement account not tied to employer. No social security before age 70 or until after a minimum 40-years of documented employment. Mandatory insurance to cover loss of employment due to health issues. Fully vested individual retirement account payouts can kick-in between 40-years of employment and age 70.

Legal - limited liability companies must post performance bonds or buy insurance for project clean-up and other ongoing liabilities in case of bankruptcy

Zoning - construction companies and real-estate developers must demonstrate reliable access to some form of public transport before getting building permission

Farmland - to avoid urban sprawl farmland will be zoned farmland and afterwards it cannot be converted to greenfield urban development except by a change in law at which time it will be deemed commercial and the seller must then pay capital gains whether it was deemed to be a primary residence or not.

Taxes - flat taxes. Treat all forms of income equally. No loopholes. No exceptions. No government subsidy of private corporations. Loans made by the government have to be repaid within a defined time limit (see balanced budgets above).

User taxes. Simple - User's pay. For example road taxes. Landfill taxes. Carbon taxes. Fines for pollution. Water pricing including sewage treatment and water recycling. Etc.

Drugs - I am in the minority. I do not believe we can allow soft drugs. Two problems. Everytime where they have been decriminalized they lead to a rise in petty crime like bike theft and breaking an entry. Secondly, criminals sell drugs for the profit they generate not as a public service. If they cannot make money selling soft drugs then they will push harder drugs. They are in it for the money.

UPDATE: what I would like to do is take a baseball bat to this guy's head...

Authorities in Cyprus are investigating the destruction by poisoning of hundreds of trees on the Mediterranean island.

The forestry department called in police after finding evidence that pine trees lining two key motorways had been deliberately killed.

"We found that the lower parts of tree trunks had been pieced with a drill and herbicide was placed inside," George Pattichis, a forestry department spokesman, told Reuters.

"They are mainly pines and cannot be saved."

Cyprus is suffering its worst drought in decades, but the huge number of usually hardy pines wilting and dying made authorities suspect something else was afoot, Pattichis said.

A man was being questioned by police on Wednesday.

Newspapers reported the suspected motive was to offer drivers a clearer view of advertising billboards currently obstructed by the trees.

[cube]

Make it illeagle to build new fossil fuel electric generating plants and grandfather existing plants to be closed at a rate of 5% of the current number each year for 20 years.
....

sounds like a great idea but.....

The retail price of electricity would have to go up substantially, at least 4-fold in price for renewable energy like wind power or solar panels to become economically viable. I'm guessing 50 cents / kWh should do the trick.

[ROCKMAN]

I'm on board!! After the revolution I'll nominate phaster for benevolent dictator and Mr. Bill as Sec of the Treasury.

Seriously, though, the reasons why, IMHO, almost none of these good ideas will come to pass very quickly, or ever, is the basis for how we’ve gotten into the current mess. To a degree I’m serious about a revolution….of sorts. But revolutions can be messy and unpredictable. I can only see the coming crisis as fodder for even more bad policy decisions in the short term. I’ve gained a lot of good insights since I’ve been hanging around here. And the net effect is to create even greater anxiety (thanks a lot, Mr Bill). But it is nice to connect with like minded folks even though we’ve just collectively moved just a little farther away from the lunatic fringe.

[MrBill]

I'm on board!! After the revolution I'll nominate phaster for benevolent dictator and Mr. Bill as Sec of the Treasury.

Don't worry Rockman. After things get really messed up the masses always turn to a strong leader to turn things around. They don't want him. But they need him. Fascism in our time? Quite likely. Starting in Russia and Italy, but coming soon to a 'socialist' country near you! ; - ))

[CarlosFerreira]

Sustainable development, huh? Well, well... I'm taking the plunge. The idea is to go for sustainability with as little pain as possible.

Education: Free college and graduate education for all. Mandatory free professional education for those who choose not to graduate. Scholarships for residence, based on merit. Paid post-graduate studies, but wider availability of scholarships for that too.

Education, 2: End all privately-managed schools, colleges and universities. Government co-management and finance. Further finance based on presentation of scientific and technical investigation.

Sustainability - renewable resources: no renewable resource should be used faster than normal reproduction rates. Resource usage controlled by the Forest Stewardship Council, Marine Stewardship Council, etc. Tax heavily producers and retailers who provide resources from non-sustainability approved sources. To prevent high price increases, producers and retailers are taxed 10% in the first year they provide such products, increasing 15% every further year.

Sustainability - non-renewable resources: keep oil and gas taxes, raise tax rate every year. The idea is not to use non-renewable resources at a rate inferior to the rate of substitution by renewables.

Private Transportation: tax private transportation heavily. Road usage, city entrance, car parts. Heavy parking prices, and heavier fines. Heavy insurance. Give them hell.

Public transportation: easily scalable public transportation, managed by local authorities. They'll have the feel of the market needs and satisfaction, and can be easily brought to attention by local people if not performing adequately. Use waterways (rivers, sea) wherever possible to transport goods and people. Rail connections between larger cities. Surface or tube rails in larger cities. Biodiesel powered buses and trucks. Bicycle lending inside cities. No taxing of bicycles for buying or parts.

Urban design: no further approval of malls or large concentrations of shops and services in a single building. Spread them like it used to be: shopping districts inside towns, near workplaces and homes.

Distribution/retail chains: all supermarkets must have 30 days stocking of non-perishable goods in their inventory. Added prices are offset by added security. Possibility of creating large stocking areas within 10 km of the supermarket.

Recycling: like the transportation, create public companies to collect, separate and treat garbage. Everything that can be recycled cannot be used to energy production (burning). Organic residues must be used for compost.

Recycling, 2: tax product for percentage of weight that cannot be recycle or reused in present form. That includes packaging. Make that tax progressive, to offset violent price increases: 10% in the first year, 15% yearly increase from then on. Manufacturer forced to declare on packaging how much won't it be recycled, to show clients how much they're paying for it.

Agriculture subsidies: stop all subsidies for tobacco agriculture, immediately.

Agriculture subsidies and agriculture import tariffs: fix subsidies in dollars for kilogram of predicted production, equal for all countries. Fix import tariffs for agriculture products, equal for all countries. A country can only import agricultural production in case internal inventories of that product fall below a threshold (for example, beneath 3 months' predicted consumption. This might need some work.

Pricing: create and enforce strong anti-dumping laws.

Taxing incentives: drop taxes on renewable energy local production, like housing solar panels or local windmills for electrical production.

This really needs more work!

[CarlosFerreira]

Oh, and this:

Population: strict application of the 2-child policy. Removal of child-bearing incentives.

Sorry about the double-posting mess. I wanted to edit, pressed quote and now I can't erase one of the posts.

[ROCKMAN]

Mr. Bill,

I'm sure most Americans would read your words and laugh. Perhaps even quit a few EU's would laugh too despite the obvious. I'm sure you and I have read some of the same books on previous "realignments" of societies on a non-voluntary basis. Even then it still difficult for me to envision such events coming to pass here. But I'm still glad to be in Texas. I do believe we have a better strain of DNA to handle the possibilities.

[Tanada]

Make it illeagle to compost yard waste

Doesn't this fly in the face of all the peak oilers trying to cultivate their doomsteads?

I should have been clearer, around here almost all composting is done by law by my city. If I put yard waste in my trash I can be fined, but the city provides free paper bags for leaves, sticks and grass clippings. If people want to compost themselves to use on their personal garden so be it, but anything being taken to the curb or gathered by the city should be buried and therefore sequestered.

[Tanada]

Make it illeagle to build new fossil fuel electric generating plants and grandfather existing plants to be closed at a rate of 5% of the current number each year for 20 years.
....

sounds like a great idea but.....

The retail price of electricity would have to go up substantially, at least 4-fold in price for renewable energy like wind power or solar panels to become economically viable. I'm guessing 50 cents / kWh should do the trick.

Hell with the renewables if they can't compete with geothermal and fission then they don't need to be used at all IMO.

[CarlosFerreira]

Hell with the renewables if they can't compete with geothermal and fission then they don't need to be used at all IMO.

Can I object? A policy of diverse renewables will allow for a great independence concentrated energy storage (like oil) imports. I live in a windy place, with the fierce Atlantic nearby; we would likely get by on wind and sea energy production, along with powerdown. I don't have data on this, mind.

As for fission, take a look at this article on High level waste. It says that at current level of production, 12,000 tonnes of nuclear waste (highly radioactive, thermally hot and with half-life decays of hundreds, thousands of years) are produced every year.

From here, and after a brief calculation, I got a 15.7% of electricity generation from electricity in 2004. Probably a little smaller right now, because electricity production has likely increased in 4 years, and there are (I think) the same number of nuclear centrals.

As for geothermal, it's specifically located in some places. I don't have specific data, but that same chart gives a total 2.1% of electricity generation from geo, solar, wind, wood and waste combined.

Renewables have a lot of potential to grow, coming from seemingly nowhere. As for fission, an increase in production will bring about a corresponding increase in waste. Those wastes are, I remember, terrifyingly dangerous (some of them weapons grade, the Wikipedia text says) and consume a lot of energy to refrigerate and money in surveillance.

Get your numbers straight. I don't have shares on renewables (or whatever shares, anyway).