Remember that great video about the history of our consumer culture called the Story of Stuff? (See sidebar for link.) Annie Leonard has a knack for simplifying complex and controversial topics for people like me, whose eyes can sometimes glaze over at the vast amount of information that exists regarding climate science and other environmental issues.
Well, Annie’s done it again. This time she’s talking about cap & trade. It’s a seemingly sensible solution to the carbon emission problem. But like many seemingly sensible solutions, the devil is in the details. According to Annie, the way cap & trade is structured, it ignores the triple bottom line of ethical treatment of people, ecological stewardship, and fairly created wealth. Instead, cap & trade supports business as usual (remember Enron? Goldman Sachs? These are the guys designing the cap & trade scheme!).
But just like any controversial topic, there are many opinions about the validity and focus of this video. Here’s another take from David Roberts of Grist (via Kate Sheppard at Mother Jones).
Check out the video (below is a teaser) and let me know what you think.
