From a legal point of view, placing responsibility for damages caused by CO2 polluters is near impossible. In most cases were a party is injured, the injured party, (eg the plaintiff) can bring suit against the responsible party, (eg the defendant), for damages. The plaintiff must prove that the defendant was the proximate cause of the damages suffered.
For example, suppose I sign an oil lease allowing an oil company the right to drill for oil anywhere within a 40 acre parcel of land. The oil company brings in a well and operate the well for twenty-five years. At the end of twenty-five years, the oil company abandons the well, pulls all the piping out of the ground leaving the oil well unplugged, and the surrounding area in a mess. Later the oil well leaks a smelly smug badly contaminating the general area surrounding the plugged hole. I can bring suit against the oil company for damages, if I can prove the oil company was the proximate cause of the damages suffered to my land. If a person suffers damages due to global warming or climate change, there is no way to link the damages back to the responsible party, (eg no way to prove proximate cause); because, the damages from CO2 pollution is being caused by companies around the world in many different fields of endeavor. Because there is no way to tie the damages caused by global warming and climate change back to those responsible, everyone points the finger at everybody else, while the polluters continue to spew CO2 into the atmosphere with impunity. I think a world wide "cap and trade" solution is a brilliant idea. It should be implemented under a capitalist free economy system, where a new CO2 derivative would be created and traded over a major stock exchanges. Companies would be allow CO2 derivatives up to their CO2 cap limit. CO2 emissions above a companies CO2 cap limit would require the company to buy additional CO2 derivative over a stock exchange that acts as a centralized CO2 derivative clearing house. Companies that were using alternative sources of energy like wind, solar, and nuclear would have excess CO2 derivatives to sell to polluting companies that exceed their CO2 cap. This would reward companies that switched to alternative energy or used other methods to limit their pollution, and needle the polluters into considering doing the same. Regards, LelandJ On 12/17/2009 07:09 AM, Publius Maximus wrote: > http://bit.ly/7maYtD > > - - - > President Chavez brought the house down. > > When he said the process in Copenhagen was “not democratic, it is not > inclusive, but isn’t that the reality of our world, the world is > really and imperial dictatorship…down with imperial dictatorships” he > got a rousing round of applause. > > When he said there was a “silent and terrible ghost in the room” and > that ghost was called capitalism, the applause was deafening. > > But then he wound up to his grand conclusion – 20 minutes after his 5 > minute speaking time was supposed to have ended and after quoting > everyone from Karl Marx to Jesus Christ - “our revolution seeks to > help all people…socialism, the other ghost that is probably wandering > around this room, that’s the way to save the planet, capitalism is the > road to hell....let’s fight against capitalism and make it obey us.” > He won a standing ovation. > > ... > > Nothing is real in Copenhagen - not the temperature record, not the > predictions, not the agenda, not the “solution”. In fact, here’s how > fake it all is: > > The lead negotiator for the small island nation of Tuvalu, the bow-tie > wearing Ian Fry, broke down as he begged delegates to take tough > action. > > “I woke up this morning crying,” and that’s not easy for a grown man > to admit,” Mr Fry said on Saturday, as his eyes welled with tears. > > ”The fate of my country rests in your hands,” he concluded, as the > audience exploded with wild applause. > - - - > > What a farce. Nick.... please understand, THIS is what you're > empowering when you gobble up the "climate change armageddon" > propaganda. > > The only chance of being an advocate of science in this political > climate is to be real skeptic about the data, and send these clowns > back where they came from. > > - Publius > _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
