(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Climate Strike -- Carbon Added Fee(week 61) [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-08-24 You can make a difference to the hurt being caused by climate chaos and the great extinction event, in your town or your city! How? Reuse, repurpose, and recycle this information. This is the letter for week 61 of a weekly climate strike that went on for 4 years in front of San Francisco City Hall, beginning early March 2019. For more context, see this story. For an annotated table of contents to see topics for all the strike letters, see this story. Meanwhile… STRIKE FOR THE PLANET Will some good strong caf finally get you started on saving us? Because this week’s topic is a Carbon Added Fee (CAF). In order to survive, we need a Green New Deal now If we’re going to preserve some livability on this planet, we need to: act on the science 1 , , ensure social justice and end environmental racism 2 , , rapidly mitigate and adapt 3 , , and redistribute resources such that the planet and the poor aren’t being ground up.4 That’s the Green New Deal.5 But how do we pay for a Green New Deal? Long-term, we know a Green New Deal pays for itself.6 Even if it didn’t, money and extinction are not equal, and a GND that prevents extinction is well worth whatever it costs. But short-term, for however long there is still a capitalist economic system7, we’ll need to figure out how to raise funds to get a GND going. Fortunately, there are at least two ways to raise the necessary money now. They are long-term municipal bonds and CAF. Long-term municipal bonds See letters Week 13 Early Financial Risks and Week 19 Municipal Bonds for the details, but the essential information here is that the window for being able to float 30-year municipal bonds is closing rapidly8, 9, much more rapidly now due to the pandemic.10 If we’re going to raise any more money via bonds, it has to happen immediately. CAF Much more on point, innovative, flexible, non-regressive, and long-term is a Carbon Added Fee, or CAF. If you want to spew carbon into the atmosphere, you pay for the damage you’re doing to the planet, and that payment has to be enough to fix the damage.11 What will SF’s CAF look like? Start with a price of $140/ton of CO 2 emitted12 (though this is too low). Create a table of CO 2 produced per activity or item. Add the CAF to the price of the activity or item. Directly pay out from CAF monies to carbon sequestration activities in SF: non-till and permaculture urban farms13, 14, urban forestry15, and CO 2 utilization and storage.16 Use CAF monies to help initially fund SF’s Green New Deal. Use CAF monies to identify and eliminate any regressive impacts of SF’s CAF.17 Make planet-destroying activities economically as costly as they are factually deadly. Let’s look at some specific examples. LEAF BLOWERS A gasoline powered, 2-stroke backpack leaf blower produces 4.5 tons of carbon over a 3-year lifetime.18 The current retail price of a 2-stroke backpack leaf blower is about $300. The true price to the planet and to the citizens of San Francisco is ($140/ton CO 2 x 4.5 tons) + $300 retail price = $930.19 Current price =$300 CAF = $630 TOTAL =$960 RED WINE Imported bottled red wine from South Africa produces 104 tons carbon per 1000 bottles, or 0.104 tons CO 2 per bottle, producing a CAF of $14.56 per bottle. Current price =$32 CAF =$14.56 TOTAL =$46.56 Bottled red wine from Napa that comes by truck produces 1.38 tons carbon per 1000 bottles, or 0.00138 tons CO 2 per bottle, producing a CAF of $0.19 per bottle. Current price =$32 CAF =$0.19 TOTAL =$32.19 Bottled red wine from Napa that comes by train produces 1.37 tons carbon per 1000 bottles, or 0.00137 tons CO 2 per bottle, producing a CAF of $0.19 per bottle.20 Current price =$32 CAF =$0.19 TOTAL =$32.19 Next week will include all kinds of information on how to enact this, because we need to enact a CAF in SF immediately. I strongly suggest starting the CAF on items that are locally available and not necessary, or items that are easily replaced by non-polluting or lesser polluting items that already exist, such as in the examples above. So what are you waiting for? A CAF can finally get us going on: Countywide blackwater recycling; An SF native urban forest with green pathways for plants and animals throughout the city; Immediate all electric and clean energy transportation; More roads permanently closed to car traffic; Elimination of all single-use plastics in SF and move toward eliminating all plastics that are not reusable, locally recyclable, and biologically safe; All local, carbon-neutral or carbon-negative energy — eliminating all methane heating and cooking and assisting in transitioning from fireplace-to-electric heating; and A resilient and self-sufficient SF. This letter would have said you have 27 weeks left in which to start the necessary big actions21, 22 if we’re going to survive, but it turns out that was overly optimistic. There is NO time left at all. It’s come to this, and you must act now. FOOTNOTES 1. Naomi Klein. “A Message From The Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez”. The Intercept. 17 April 2019. https://theintercept.com/2019/04/17/green-new-deal-short-film-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/ . 2. Leila Ettachfini. “Coronavirus Death Rates Are a Direct Result of Environmental Racism”. Vice. 14 April 2020. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/k7ev93/coronavirus-death-rates-environmental-racism . 3. “Climate Adaptation vs. Mitigation: What’s The Difference, And Why Does It Matter?” Climate Reality Project. 7 November 2019. https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/climate-adaptation-vs-mitigation-why-does-it-matter . 4. John Vidal. “Cut world population and redistribute resources, expert urges”. The Guardian. 26 April 2012. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/apr/26/world-population-resources-paul-ehrlich . Paul Ehrlich’s voice from the past warning of a plague that’s now arrived. This has all been predictable for decades. 5. Eugene Robinson. “A ‘Green New Deal’ sounds like pie in the sky. But we need it.” The Washington Post. 7 February 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-green-new-deal-sounds-like-pie-in-the-sky-but-we-need-it/2019/02/07/8cc891c4-2b1b-11e9-b011-d8500644dc98_story.html . 6. Ann Pettifor. “The beauty of a Green New Deal is that it would pay for itself”. The Guardian. 17 September 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/17/green-new-deal-climate-disaster . 7. Phil McDuff. “Ending climate change requires the end of capitalism. Have we got the stomach for it?” The Guardian. 18 March 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/18/ending-climate-change-end-capitalism . 8. Richard Lehmann. “The Outlook For Municipal Bonds”. Forbes. 24 January 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/investor/2018/01/24/the-outlook-for-municipal-bonds/#2cf9307e5cc4 . 9. Bernice Napach. “The Muni Bond Market’s Biggest Credit Risk: Climate Change” Think Advisor. 30 December 2019. https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2019/12/30/the-muni-bond-markets-biggest-credit-risk-climate-change/ . 10. Richard Lehmann. “Municipal Bond Defaults Will Be A Wake-Up Call For Bond Insurers”. Forbes. 13 April 2020. https://www.forbes.com/sites/investor/2020/04/13/municipal-bond-defaults-will-be-a-wake-up-call-for-bond-insurers/#738fb1597311 . 11. “Carbon Tax Guide: A Handbook for Policy Makers”. World Bank Group. March 2017. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/26300/Carbon%20Tax%20Guide%20-%20Main%20Report%20web%20FINAL.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y . 12. “Carbon Pricing Dashboard”. The World Bank. Accessed 23 June 2020. https://carbonpricingdashboard.worldbank.org/what-carbon-pricing . 13. Muhammad Shafique, Xiaolong Xue, and Xiowei Luo. “An overview of carbon sequestration of green roofs in urban areas”. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, Vol 47. January 2020. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1618866719303668 . 14. “San Francisco Urban Carbon Farming Project”. Matter of Trust. Accessed 24 June 2020. https://matteroftrust.org/sf-urban-carbon-farming-project/ . 15. Chad Papa and Lauren Cooper. “How cities can lead the fight against climate change using urban forestry and trees (commentary)”. Mongabay. 27 November 2019. https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/how-cities-can-lead-the-fight-against-climate-change-using-urban-forestry-and-trees-commentary/ . 16. Ella Adlen and Cameron Hepburn. “Carbon Capture methods compared: costs, scalability, permanence, cleanness”. Energy Post. 11 November 2019. https://energypost.eu/10-carbon-capture-methods-compared-costs-scalability-permanence-cleanness/ . 17. Jeremy Deaton. “Climate Change Is Regressive. A Carbon Tax Doesn’t Have To Be.” Think Progress. 13 October 2015. https://archive.thinkprogress.org/climate-change-is-regressive-a-carbon-tax-doesnt-have-to-be-baae3063a0e4/ . 18. “Leaf Blowers”. Irvington New York. Accessed 24 June 2020. http://irvingtonny.gov/515/Leaf-Blowers . And Jamie L Banks and Robert McConnell. “National emissions from Lawn and Garden Equipment”. USEPA. Accessed 23 June 2020. https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-09/documents/banks.pdf . And calculations based on data from the above sources performed by myself that include carbon in mixed hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, particulates, and braking products in addition to carbon dioxide exhaust. 19. Interestingly enough, there are electric leaf blowers that would have substantially lower carbon emissions, and rakes and brooms that would have next to no carbon emissions. And eliminating leaf blowers would substantially reduce noise pollution, and people forget that noise pollution is also a biohazard. 20. “CO2 emissions for shipping of goods”. Time for Change. Accessed 24 June 2020. https://timeforchange.org/co2-emissions-for-shipping-of-goods/ . And Andrea Thompson. “The Carbon Footprint of Wine”. Live Science. 10 November 2008. https://www.livescience.com/3041-carbon-footprint-wine.html . And “California Wine’s Carbon Footprint”. Sustainable Wine Growing. Accessed 24 June 2020. https://www.sustainablewinegrowing.org/docs/California_Wine_Executive_Summary.pdf . And calculations based on the above sources performed by myself. 21. See the Action Timeline in the report in “Only 11 Years Left to Prevent Irreversible Damage from Climate Change, Speakers Warn during General Assembly High-Level Meeting”. United Nations. 28 march 2019. https://www.un.org/press/en/2019/ga12131.doc.htm . 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