U.S. Favors Early Action on Climate-Friendly Trade

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5B84PI20091209

This article discusses the possibility of the United States working with other countries to “liberalize trade in products that reduce greenhouse emissions.” Carol Guthrie, a spokeswoman for the United States Trade Representative’s Office said that, "We would be interested in early action on climate-friendly technologies. We are discussing this possibility with other countries." With diplomats from across the globe in Copenhagen at the UN sponsored conference, this discussion has gotten more serious. The proposed bill currently in congress involves having a carbon tariff that would be imposed on countries that are not doing enough to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Hopefully with the Copenhagen conference going on right now the world can make a big step towards more actively working on the global climate crisis. Hoping for a lifestyle change in people is not enough to solve the current environmental issues at hand. Legislation must be passed to reduce carbon emissions and greenhouse gases and etc. The article discusses a “carbon tariff” which sounds like a good idea but the article also says that if we did impose a tariff such as this one we would be taxing over 20 percent on China and India. As a result we would have 20 percent less exports. This is where one of the biggest problems in environmental legislation comes into play. So many people have the idea that the environment conservation and protection has to be separate from the economy in order for both to be successful. This is definitely a wrong assumption. The hardest problem may be to find a compromise between the two but it must be done in order to fix this deep mess we are in.

Palmer, Doug. "U.S. favors early action on climate-friendly trade." Reuters. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2009.