Book review: A thoughtful must-read on the carbon tax issue

The Carbon Tax Question

Thomas F. Pedersen ?|? Harbour Publishing

$26.95??|? 256pp.

Carbon Tax: Hot Air or Hot Policy?

Is it hot in here, or is it just me? Like many of you, I have grown increasingly alarmed over the years by the prospect of human-caused??global warming and the catastrophic weather events it creates. Over at the World Meteorological Organization, scientists who spend their lives observing global weather patterns are worried too.

The body’s secretary-general Celeste Saulo said late last year: “The record-breaking rainfall and flooding, rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones, deadly heat, relentless drought and raging wildfires that we have seen in different parts of the world this year are unfortunately our new reality and a foretaste of our future…”

In sounding this warning,??Saulo is echoing the cautions we have heard from climate scientists for decades. Climate change is real, they assure us, and the increased atmospheric levels of CO2??and other greenhouse gases like methane we humans have loaded into the atmosphere in the last century are driving the change. Many concerned observers have called for tax increases on fossil fuels — a carbon tax — as one way to reduce emissions and slow the damage we are doing.

Thomas F. Pedersen, a professor emeritus at the University of Victoria and the founding executive director of the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, has spent much of his professional life studying the history of oceans and the response of the sea to climate change. His new book, The Carbon Tax Question is a thoughtful and well-informed contribution to public debates about carbon taxes.

Pedersen is a big fan of B.C.’s former Premier, Gordon Campbell, and argues that the carbon tax regimen the Liberal leader announced in the 2008 throne speech was “one of the most applauded pieces of??legislation ever signed into law in the arena of legislated environmental responsibility in North America.“??He says the price hike at the gas pump was more than paid back by government cheques tied to the program. This element of revenue neutrality was crucial, Pedersen argues, in the success and public acceptance of the new tax.

If Pierre Poilievre has his way, the upcoming federal election will be fought as a battle over carbon taxing. His industry friendly Conservative party is committed to axing the tax at the federal level, and that is one promise the Conservatives may keep. Every Canadian voter should read Pedersen’s book before casting a ballot.

Highly recommended.

Tom Sandborn lives and writes in Vancouver. He welcomes your feedback and story tips at?tos65@telus.net.