Quote of the Day, June 16th, 2009

"The whole point of cap and trade is to create the market conditions necessary for viable clean energy at a massive scale. So why don't we cut to the chase and simply provide those market conditions directly?

We can't just make the pollution business harder, we need to create a better business for polluters to be in. By direct investment in efficiency, solar, wind, grid R&D, new batteries, etc., we could potentially find solutions faster than the indirect process of forcing the private market to transition by making polluters feel the pain of a carbon cap. ...

It's time to realize that government can do more than prop up banks and auto industries to avoid economic collapse - it can invest directly in REAL climate solutions to avoid global environmental collapse and the political chaos that will follow. ...

At the end of the day, it will be hard to call the Waxman-Markey bill a success if it represents merely a political achievement, while "offsetting" actual results. Keeping our attention, policies, and budgets focused on developing and implementing solutions is critical if we are to relegate carbon pollution and carbon taxes to the scrap heap of the past."