The Solution

The challenge of global warming is defined by one fact: stabilizing the climate requires humanity -- worldwide -- to reduce its burning of coal and oil by seventy percent. To accomplish that, we must initiate a rapid global switch to noncarbon energy sources such as wind, solar, tidal power and hydrogen fuel. How do we make that happen? Not through lifestyle changes -- even if we all sit in the dark and ride bicycles, it won't stop global warming. Nor can individual countries accomplish the transition on their own -- acting independently would only jeopardize the competitiveness of their economies, effectively penalizing the most environmentally conscientious societies. And we don't have time to wait around for unproven technologies, such as "clean coal" and carbon sequestration.

There is only one way to pacify our inflamed atmosphere: The climate challenge requires all the countries of the world to adopt a common framework with mandatory reduction targets. Within such a framework, countries can find their own ways to meet the shared goal. Since the United States emits at least twenty percent of the world's greenhouse gases -- with only five percent of the world's population -- it clearly needs to take a prominent role in any global solution. Here is a concrete framework for change that is financially sensible, politically feasible and based on existing technology.

AROUND THE WORLD
The U.S. should rejoin the Kyoto process immediately -- and promote a three-part program that would enjoy the support of other countries:

Subsidize the Sun
Industrial countries spend an estimated $200 billion a year subsidizing the extraction and refining of fossil fuels. Those subsidies should be replaced with equivalent aid to promote the development of clean energy sources such as wind, solar, tidal power, biofuels, hydrogen and small-scale hydroelectric plants.

Assist Developing Countries
Some of the most polluted cities in the world are located in China, India, Thailand and Mexico -- but such countries cannot afford to switch to clean energy. We need to create an annual fund of $300 billion to help developing countries build an infrastructure for renewable energy. One source of revenue would be a "Tobin tax" on international currency transactions, named after its developer, Nobel Prize-winning economist James Tobin. A tax of a quarter penny per dollar of currency swapped by banks and speculators -- trades worth $1.5 trillion every day -- would yield more than $300 billion a year for wind farms in India, fuel-cell factories in South Africa, solar assemblies in El Salvador and hydrogen farms in the Middle East.

Get Tough on Fuel Efficiency
The parties to Kyoto must adopt a binding and more stringent efficiency standard for fossil fuels -- one that increases by five percent each year until the world has reduced emissions by seventy percent. For the first few years, most countries would meet their goals by implementing low-cost or even profitable efficiencies in their current energy systems. As the efficiencies become more expensive, however, countries would meet their goals by drawing more and more energy from noncarbon sources. That, in turn, would bring down the price of renewable energy, making it competitive with coal and oil.

HERE AT HOME
Within the global structure, the U.S. could meet its goals by cutting emissions from four sources: cars, power plants, homes and factories.

Go Hybrid
The government should require automakers to phase out conventional engines and produce only gas-electric hybrids -- a switch that would cut emissions in the transportation sector by more than fifty percent. One way to do it: Impose a sliding tax on vehicles that get less than fifty miles per gallon -- the worse the mileage, the higher the tax. Those taxes, in turn, would underwrite the development of hydrogen-fueled vehicles.

Ride the Wind
The energy department reports that wind farms in the upper Midwest and Texas could produce all the electricity the country currently uses -- as could a network of offshore wind farms. A tax on coal-generated electricity -- which is responsible for a third of all U.S. carbon emissions -- could fund a switch to wind.

Build Smarter
The Federal Government should require cities and states to institute energy-efficient building codes that mandate superinsulation, state-of-the-art heating and cooling technology, and solar-powered heating and electricity wherever geographically appropriate.

Take the Bus
City planners should implement a much more extensive system of public transportation, locate new communities near transit terminals and place strict limits on the expansion of suburban sprawl.

Help Aging Industries
The government should provide tax credits to energy-intensive industries -- steel, timber, paper, aluminum, chemicals, glass and concrete -- to help them switch to electricity generated from solar, wind or small-scale hydroelectric facilities while remaining competitive in the global marketplace. Other companies should receive tax deductions for reducing their use of coal, oil and natural gas.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Rewiring the world to run on cleaner energy won't be cheap -- but it won't cost nearly as much as doing nothing. Economists estimate that in the coming decades, global warming will cost the worldwide economy up to $300 billion a year -- from drought, famine, hurricanes, floods and widespread disease.

In fact, switching to clean energy will create wealth and jobs: Developing and installing renewable technologies demands much more labor than the coal and oil industries, which are highly automated. And by spearheading the transfer of clean energy to the developing world, America can turn impoverished and dependent countries into robust trading partners -- an expansion of global wealth that would make the tech boom of the 1990s look like a lemonade stand. In the end, the real issue isn't whether the world has enough money to stop global warming -- it's whether we have enough labor to accomplish the task in time to meet nature's rapidly approaching deadline.

Next: Global Warming Resources