A commons-based solution to global warming is picking up steam. The Washington Post in an editorial just endorsed the Cap-and-Dividend approach to climate change.
The Obama campaign has also endorsed the concept, which it calls Cap-and-Rebate. The Post calls it Cap-and-Return.
The idea is to put a cap on overall carbon emissions that gets progressively lower and then charge polluters, with the proceeds being returned to American citizens. That money will help low- and middle-income people deal with rising energy prices that will result from efforts to stop global warming.
“This is not a radical notion,” the Post editorialized. “In Canada, British Columbia already does what we are proposing.”
The idea for Cap-and-Dividend was first voiced by On the Commons cofounder Peter Barnes in his 2001 book Who Owns the Sky?
For more also see Cap-and-Dividend.