Carbon Tax vs. Cap-and-Trade System

[traininthedistance]

Kind of a false dichotomy, but if I'm forced to choose I'd go with a carbon tax.  Less opportunity for market manipulation, and does a better job of a) capturing as wide a swath of pollution as possible, and b) providing real incentives to re-organize our choices in a more robust and sane manner. (And, yes, any proposal which is serious about the gravity and the cause of this issue needs to address the demand for pollution, not just its supply.)

Write-in: Direct action.

Care to elaborate on what exactly this means?  

[traininthedistance]

The only thing that will make possible a shift to carbon neutral or low emission forms of energy is a shift in the mode of production. Capitalism is incapable of "going green" because it relies on the profit motive.

You do realize that the world economy grew 3 percent last year, but emissions stayed constant? Seems like disproof of your pat assertion right there.

Decarbonization and a market economy are of course compatible, so long as the proper incentives are in place.  Those proper incentives being, of course: Pigouvian taxation of externalities; restriction/protection of natural non-renewable resources; and investment in public goods such as mass transportation and basic scientific research. Naive "unfettered" capitalism, of course, inevitably leads to disaster– but not so for a mixed economy, where there is a role for both evidence-based planning *and* price signals.