Here's your chance not just to be the mayor, but the original city planner as well! Imagine a medium sized city that would be developed with modern, low carbon transportation in mind, and other strategies to reduce the average citizens' carbon footprints.
What would that city look like? Would that make you more likely to want to live there?
Sustainable City >
Cleaner Air in the city
A city that was a lot more controlling of the citizens carbon footprint would look very green. It would have so many trees and would have a lot of solar panels. I think that I would want to live there because of the cleaner air. I have bad lung problems, and having cleaner air would be amazing for my health.
Forcing people to pay fines if they go over a certain carbon limit would probably help. It wouldn't exactly control people but it would be a huge incentive for people to reduce their impact. Maybe getting some benefit if they go under an amount.
I agree with you, that would definitely be a great solution and also fines in some big cities would help. You can also go to the nearby mountains where the air is definitely cleaner than in your town. Being in nature will have a good effect on your health. Luckily I live in a place where the air is still clean and the water is also drinkable. I find it hard to believe that I have to buy bottled water every day. I can only imagine your situation.
I definitely agree with you, but I think that you're looking at the wrong problem here. The city doesn't really get much just from the carbon footprint of its citizens, instead, they should focus more on educating them about this problem. A lot of people don't even know what a carbon footprint is, let alone how much theirs is.