New York Times columnist Tom Friedman weighs in this morning on the cap-and-trade bill that passed the House of Representatives last week, saying that it’s weak, inferior to a carbon tax, and makes far too many concessions to polluters – yet it needs to become law.
More important, my gut tells me that if the U.S. government puts a price on carbon, even a weak one, it will usher in a new mind-set among consumers, investors, farmers, innovators and entrepreneurs that in time will make a big difference — much like the first warnings that cigarettes could cause cancer. The morning after that warning no one ever looked at smoking the same again.
