What "alternate statement of fact"? Some youtube blather from climate truther 69? Give me some thing real from an actual real scientific body Like NASA or the NRC or even an accredited university and I'll definitely look at it.
'alternate statement of fact' in this case represents the perspective that does not support AGW/CC
I don't dispute it being a type of tax if it ever actually materialized but there is lots of hypothetical taxes I oppose that have no bearing on my overall beliefs. I oppose carbon taxes but for different reasons as you. I am an actual right winger who hates subsidizing everyone's poor lifestyle and consumption choices. In business it is what we call externalized costs. So for example when company A manufactures high fructose corn syrup for the food industry I ultimately pay for the negative consequences of it being in practically all packaged food through higher healthcare costs I pay with my taxes while the company itself is exempt and those expenses never show on the balance sheet.........because I pay for it.
If you really look at things from the far right of the political spectrum you pay for these externalized costs in your taxes for so many products it is insane. Bottom line......user should pay full costs. If gasoline emissions and the resulting smog are making some people sick and creating a healthcare burden figure out what it is and recoup the cost at the pump, refund it to healthcare and cut my taxes. Let market forces build me a nice truck that uses a cheaper fuel. Want to stop excessive water consumption? Make people pay the full cost of it. Do I really need to support another Walmart by subsidising their access roads and infrastructure for their big box stores when I don't even shop there? How about their low wages being externalized through government programs and tax breaks for those employees at my higher tax expense just so you can buy cheap Chinese plastic crap that Statscan says you'll toss in 6 months and I have to pay to landfill or recycle it? It goes on and on and on.
You Liberals........ugh....!
In this case, the taxes we are expected to pay are levied by an outside body (read: the IPCC or UN I guess) and those funds having absolutely no direct benefit to the local population that remitted them.
.... And no, I don't buy into the
'we saved the planet, therefore, we did benefit'.... This would require that I buy into the AGW/CC premise.
One of the ironies in all this is only the societal wealth and prosperity enjoyed by the production of fossil fuels affords us our only fighting chance in addressing the climate change problem.
... Only if you believe that climate change is materially and substantially impacted by humanity
Let's look at this pragmatically. With the increased and lower cost production of oil human populations rose. in equilibrium. They did this because we consume upwards of 10 petro calories for every actual calorie we consume. In other words we have converted oil to food by the use of fossil fuels to provide us with fertilizer, fuel for our tractors, and to even process and transport a simple salad 1000s of miles everyday.
Using the food production example, one could also pin a direct cause/effect relationship with the advancement of farm equipment as the direct culprit... Why not set a global tax on combines and swathers and make those the villains?
Regardless, it does not change the fact that the current AGW/CC ideology would generate a solution via controlling the population.
The commentary relative to petro-calories is nothing more than an engineered deviation from what is essentially the only solution to the position that you support
A Canadian lifestyle is not feasible for a planet of 7 billion. Less so for the estimated 10 billion that will soon be here. And can we stop there? Where do we draw the line? At least when oil is 130 a barrel birth rates drop as food get crazy expensive in the third world where they feel it first.
Interestingly, when the various analyses are done, the pro CC groups villify Canada based on energy consumption on a per capita basis, in effect, disregarding the vast distances in this nation as well as the extreme weather that must be dealt with.
With the above in mind, have you ever wondered which nations would be at the top (and bottom) of the energy consumption standards if these metrics were measured on a per square foot basis?.. Would be a very different story
If you're so concerned about human welfare why have I never seen you comment about cancer being the leading cause of death in China and we should consume less in the West?
... Because the topic of discussion here is AGW/CC and not cancer in China
Sigh. Am I a sheeple too?
It's up to you to look in the mirror and make that assesment
I haven't a hard answer and don't pretend to. But here is what I do know that I learned in the military, farming and business: Listen to the experts. Simple as that. Don't want to listen to the intelligence officer and instead go with your guts often people die. Want to ignore the advice from the Crop Diversification Centre because they are a bunch of liberal hacks you will pay for it in disease or lower yields. Want to ignore the bankers and investment advisers you will lose money. The road to success for any subject is to learn to ignore the naysayers and listen to the experts. The Int guys in white coats are telling me the enemy is here and to expect X as their capabilities. I couldn't ignore it if I tried.
The short answer is that there is no formal, discipline offered through accredited universities that is universally recognized.
That said, anyone that is claiming expertise in this area is bullsh*tting you