Carbon Taxes Won’t Do Enough to Slow Global Warming

With crowds taking to the streets to call for action on climate change and activists haranguing the United Nations, the issue of global warming is once again front and center. The equivocation of former years seems belatedly to be giving way to a general realization that something must be done. The effort will be sweeping and global, and starting now is better than starting later.

But that leaves the question of how to solve the problem. Science-fiction solutions, like blanketing the planet in sulfur compounds to block out the sun's rays, are probably best left as a last resort. Technologies to pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere are more promising, but still in the research stage. The best solution, everyone agrees, is to shift from a fossil-fuel-based economy as quickly as possible.