Let’s talk about this carbon tax idea. It would be a great idea if the rightwing asswipes would get onboard with it, but we all know that isn’t going to happen. They’ll keep denying climate change when the poles have melted and sea levels have risen 30 feet. They’ll be investing in salvage companies and hoping to make a huge profit. A carbon tax wouldn’t last a decade at the very most before it is repealed. You like to correctly point out how I am unrealisitic in my hopes for a technological solution to AGW, but you are unrealistic about the long term potential for a carbon tax. If I’m wrong PLEASE EXPLAIN HOW we can prevent a repeal of a carbon tax by an incoming rightwing government?

And seriously? "Strapping solar panels to car roofs"? We both know electric cars will get energy from the grid via charging stations. And the grid is in the process of being converted to renewables. It was either you or RL who pointed out that steel and concrete still require fossil fuels based on current technology, but hopefully that will change. And there are big costs in extracting fossil fuels from the earth, while collecting power from the sun, wind, water is now cheaper and getting more so.

Also, what I find interesting is the carbon tax idea and cheaper renewables are essentially the same solution to vastly reducing fossil fuel consumption. Both approaches make fossil fuels the more expensive option, thus reducing demand for them. My guess is you so favor the top down, command and control by government option, and find the free market option so repugnant to your political predilections, you refuse to accept that the market solution is, obviously, more enduring in the long run. I think we should go full bore on both approaches but only one of them will stand the test of time.

Maybe it’s time for a little intellectually honest self reflection here on why you favor the less sustainable approach? Please don't just come back with another snarky response about how I “worship the free market” and ignore the point that any carbon tax would get repealed.