Why are carbon emissions regulations schemes important, and why are we debating which ones to choose?
It is important to understand that reducing human carbon emissions is widely considered a means to solving a problem: global warming. The basic consensus is that the emission of carbon gases from the burning of fossil fuels in such things as cars and coal energy plants has the unintended consequence of warming the globe (a “negative externality”). This is because these carbon gases are greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases let the suns rays enter the earth’s atmosphere and heat the earth, and then they prevent that heat from being released back into space. This is similar to how a greenhouse works, where a building or room has a glass ceiling, lets sunlight in, but then prevents the heat from escaping, thus heating the room. The theory is that by decreasing the human emissions of carbon gases (and other greenhouse gases) into the atmosphere, this greenhouse effect will be reduced and the earth will be cooled down. The question becomes, which schemes for reducing carbon emissions are best?
