Canie,

I would be interested in reading your essay as I believe that that's the way our country is headed, unfortunately, and I'd like to hear your thoughts on same. Please post it or send it to me in an e-mail if you wish.

As for the carbon credits, I agree with you -- it's just a scheme to get more money from those companies who do the worst damage -- the companies won't absorb the cost; the cost will get passed on to the consumer. We live in a capitalistic country, so far anyway -- those companies are going to need to make a profit, or they won't stay in business.

I believe in letting the law of supply and demand take care of changing people's environmental behavior. For instance, as the price of gas goes up, people change their driving habits. (One other thing I'd like to point out, oil is priced in dollars on the world market. Therefore, as the dollar has become devalued, the Arabs want more dollars for their barrels of oil -- simple economics. When the dollar's value goes up again, the price of oil will come down, all other things being equal.)

Water is another example. The West is drying up -- we need to conserve water better than we are. If they raise the price of water high enough, water usage will go down. Why do we need more laws to legislate what the market system can fix?

Barbara