Jonathan – Glad it’s useful. I really liked your article on your Russian friend, by the way – a very interesting connection between anecdote and idea.

As for step one… well, that’d be another article. Steps one through four probably look like this: build grassroots support for issue, get a binding international agreement on as many countries as possible, get the carbon prices right (probably a predictably escalating carbon tax), and slap big tariffs on all countries outside the agreement.

That’s just my 60-second shot in the dark.

The even harder question I still don’t even begin to know how to answer is, would be the next political or social step? How does one actually effect the necessary cultural change?

Got any Sociology/Pol Si PhD friends? Probably we need Econ too. Where are our specialists in this joint field?

It was really interesting to read your summary. Socolow was my advisor in grad school, but I’ve been out of the loop on carbon mitigation for several years now. I enjoyed your summary here and I’m with you on how you approach the problem.

You know, I’ve always been annoyed at how the environmental movement often adopts a moralistic and hectoring tone (I’m reminded of the two drunken guys at the taxi stand last night, who were loudly telling others in the lineup to share taxis for ecological reasons, and booing those who didn’t). Maybe some people will feel guilty; maybe our minor changes will make us feel better; but it’s not the way to create real change. Not like, say, a massive carbon tax.

I will note that people are different here in the UK. They actually care about airplane carbon miles and food miles in a way that people didn’t seem to in the places I lived before (or at least in the circles I moved in). Even the Conservative party has to pay lip service to these issues.

Have you heard that Google has launched a program to support companies developing renewable sources of electricity? (Critically, they’re aiming to reduce the cost below coal (presumably at unsubsidized rates). As Monbiot and you both imply, present day renewables are unsupportable – when fossil fuels become expensive and the world’s factories and automobiles start to sputter, you can bet that we’ll be burning craploads of coal without fretting about carbon emissions.) It’s not clear to me whether Google actually wants to do research, or act as a venture capital investor, or make products, or what.

Hey, let’s have an international climate summit when I’m back in Toronto this Xmas.

b*