Can we solve the climate crisis without confronting global inequities?
A recent study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA found that white residents in the USA produce more climate pollution than black or hispanic residents, but black and hispanic people are exposed to more air pollution.
And that is just the USA! Think about the global inequities in the "haves" and the "have nots".
And how are we going to lift people out of poverty without making the climate crisis even worse?
If you are a resident in a wealthy country, is it your responsibility to address both problems at once? And what would that look like in terms of national and international policy?
Environmental Justice >
Should the wealthy be taxed?
I believe that in richer countries (ie. countries that have high GDPs), the wealthy should be held responsible for their impacts on the environment. Where I'm from in the US, the wealthy often live very extravagant lifestyles, flying quite frequently, buying new cars, and using massive amounts of energy with little regard for others, not just in the US but in a larger sense, the world. Despite having the money to purchase more climate-friendly alternatives (which are often quite expensive), they squander their money on trendy brands to help fit in with the other wealthy individuals. I think that because of this the wealthy in richer nations should be taxed an environmental tax to help make up for their large carbon footprints and possibly to make them reflect on their use of resources. They should be assessed by a government official who is sent to their house and notes the appliances they use. The government official should also ask them about their flying habits or how often they leave the lights on, questions that help to create a more accurate reflection of their carbon footprint. They should be placed into tax brackets with those who have higher carbon footprints being taxed more and those who have lower carbon footprints being taxed less. I think that if this were implemented in countries with high GDPs, that the wealthy would start switching their lifestyles to be more eco-friendly to avoid taxing. Additionally, since people often want to emulate the wealthy, if the wealthy began using eco-friendly alternatives to products and trying to reduce their carbon footprints, ordinary people may follow which could cause a large decline in carbon footprints everywhere.