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Creating an Earth Atmospheric Trust

Stabilizing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the earth's atmosphere at a level that will control climate change will require drastic departures from business as usual. Here, we introduce one response to this challenge that may seem visionary or idealistic today, but that could become realistic once we reach a tipping point that opens a window of opportunity for embracing major changes.

The core of this system is the idea of a common asset trust. Trusts are widely used and well-developed legal mechanisms designed to protect and manage assets on behalf of specific beneficiaries. Extending this idea to the management and protection of a global commons, such as the atmosphere, is a new but straightforward extension of this idea. Because the atmosphere is global, the Earth Atmospheric Trust would be global in scope; however, initial implementation at a regional or national scale may be necessary. We provide an outline of the steps that must be taken to create and manage such a system.

Read the full article here...

Blue sky thinking

In 1985, Peter Barnes dreamed up a unique way to change the world. He started a long-distance telephone service that pledged to donate a fraction of revenues to progressive non-profits. Quirky, yes, but also highly effective. Over the last two decades, Working Assets has donated more than $50 million to non-profits like Greenpeace and Planned Parenthood.

Now Barnes, who retired from the phone company in 1995, has set his sights on the problem of climate change, with an equally revolutionary idea for solving it. "The Sky Trust" as Barnes calls it, is a twist on carbon cap-and-trade policies, which seek to limit pollution by issuing emissions permits to polluters. But in Barnes' model, the permits are auctioned off and the money is returned to citizens.

Read the full article here...

An Earth Atmospheric Trust: A proposal to stop global warming and end poverty

A growing number of internationally renowned experts are calling for the creation of the Earth Atmospheric Trust. People worldwide can join the influential leaders listed below by endorsing the creation of the Earth Atmospheric Trust now. Help stop global warming and end poverty by supporting the Earth Atmospheric Trust -- Endorse the Earth Atmospheric Trust.

The Earth Atmospheric Trust is explained further in this article(pdf) and also in a recent article published by Grist.

Peter Barnes Tomales Bay Institute

Robert Costanza University of Vermont

Paul Hawken Natural Capital Institute

Elinore Ostrom Indiana University

Oran Young University of California at Santa Barbara

Keith Alger Conservation International

Saleem Ali University of Vermont

Rene Castro INCAE, Costa Rica

Joshua Farley University of Vermont

Eduard Mïller

David Orr Oberlin University

Rosimeiry Portela Conservation International

Alvaro Umana International Development Bank

http://robertreich.blogspot.com/2007/06/best-way-to-reduce-global-warming.html

The Best Way to Reduce Global Warming
Monday, June 18, 2007

The best idea I've heard so far to deal with global warming is not a carbon tax. I can�t imagine any politician calling for higher taxes affecting the middle class, or for that matter the middle class � already squeezed by high energy prices and stagnant wages putting up with it.

The winning idea isn't a cap-and-trade system, either. That system would allow companies to continue polluting, just require them to buy the right to pollute more from companies that keep their dirtying to a minimum. Today's biggest polluters those who've done least to reduce their emissions would be the biggest winners because they'd get the highest caps.

The best idea I've heard is described as a carbon auction. Companies would have to bid for the right to pollute. And, most ingeniously, the money raised in the auction would be shared equally by all citizens in the form of yearly dividend checks just like the residents of Alaska now get yearly dividends for their share of the state's oil revenues.

I mean, it's our atmosphere, right? Think of a national park or a national forest. No company is simply allowed to take what they want from it, free of charge. Why should the atmosphere be any different?

In a carbon auction, companies would have to bid against other companies for a portion of the atmosphere they intend to use � within overall limits that reduce pollution levels.

Get it? It's a win-win. The auction market itself determines who can pollute and by how much. And since companies will inevitably want to reduce their bidding costs, they'll search for new technologies that cut their emissions.

And even if companies pass on increased costs to their customers, we'll still be better off because we'll get dividend checks and cleaner air.

Message to presidential candidates: American voters will buy this one. And it's good policy.

Protecting our common asset: The Earth

"How much is a pristine lake worth? A clean atmosphere? An oil field?

Answering these questions takes us from the heart of economicphilosophy to the frontiers of analytical science. It turns out to be very difficult to give objective monetary values, even in principle. But as our analytical capabilities and understanding of ecosystem services increases, we're developing useful valuation methods that will form the basis for future policy and financial activities." Read the full article here...

On January 16th author Peter Barnes explained that our current version of capitalism�the corporate, globalized version 2.0�is rapidly squandering our shared inheritances. Barnes proposed his vision for the future of capitalism and offered a solution: protect the commons by giving it property rights and strong institutional managers.

Barnes showed how capitalism�like a computer�is run by an operating system. Our current operating system gives too much power to profit-maximizing corporations that devour our commons and distribute most of their profit to a sliver of the population. And government�which in theory should defend our commons�is all too often a tool of those very corporations.

Barnes proposed a revised operating system�Capitalism 3.0�that protects the commons while preserving the many strengths of capitalism as we know it. His major innovation is the commons trust�a market-based entity with the power to limit use of scarce commons, charge rent, and pay dividends to everyone.

His newest book, Capitalism 3.0, offers a practical alternative to our current flawed economic system. It points the way to a future in which we can retain capitalism's virtues while mitigating its vices.