Carbon Emissions vs Consumption

It seems that I've confused "carbon emissions" with "carbon consumption" - probably because I care a little about the latter, and not at all about the former - resulting in a thoroughly sketchy claim that BC's new gas tax won't reduce carbon emissions. It's a lot harder to get out of the carbon consumption chain than the carbon emission chain.

Thanks to Sacha for only quoting the least crazy part of that post!

So, does this mean that the environmentally friendly choice at Safeway is plastic bags because it raises the price of gas? It's all so confusing these days...

That being said, I'm not going to take too much crap from anyone that extols both the economic and environmental benefits of this tax restructuring - if there's one thing that economic growth does not normally lead to, it's a reduction in carbon emissions.


See also this chart at Google's Gapminder.

NDP Advocates Crippling BC

John Horgan, the NDP Energy Critic, has introduced a bill that would require the BC government to regulate retail gasoline prices.

An NDP MLA is calling for the regulation of gasoline prices in an attempt to reduce what he called "apparent price gouging."

John Horgan, the energy critic, wants to protect consumers from price fluctuations by allowing the B.C. Utilities Commission to examine wholesale prices and regulate retail prices.

Ignoring the fundamental stupidity of price controls and the fact that local gas prices still aren't high enough to have removed a meaningful (my commute still stinks) number of cars from the road, this highlights the conflicted nature of left wing parties: It is virtually impossible to reconcile environmental concerns with the needs of the "poor".

Although I suppose it is possible that Horgan is a cynical liar and realizes full well that price controls are not likely to result in an abundance of cheap gas.