When the U.S. military began using solar panels in Afghanistan, it wasn’t to avoid paying a carbon tax; it was because it costs $400 to $500 a barrel to transport diesel to bases there, and because hundreds of soldiers have died guarding supply lines. And when DuPont cut its energy use to 19 percent below what it was in 1990, says Linda Fisher, the company’s chief sustainability officer, by turning waste into fuel, making burners more efficient, and other steps, it wasn’t to stay on the right side of a cap-and-trade law. “We’ve saved $3 billion to $4 billion since 2000, so this is real money,” she says.
Which is not to say the world can sit back and hope these factors avert a climate disaster. As long as fossil fuels are subsidized, renewables will not expand as quickly as needed to reduce greenhouse emissions enough to avert ruinous climate change (Pakistani-size floods, anyone?)—namely, cuts of 90 percent from today’s levels by 2050, says Daniel Kammen of the World Bank. “Without a price on carbon, we’re fighting with only one hand,” he says. But at least we’re fighting.
"Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another as if we were one single tribe.” -King T'Challa, Black Panther
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. ~Winston Churchill
