The automobile is the face of greenhouse emissions. Never mind that vehicles account for only 15.9 percent of the world's CO2 emissions. It's the gas-spewing, foul-air-creating car that gets the most blame.
And, well it should, because 15.9 percent would be a nice chunk of pollution to get rid of. So, let's go ahead and blame the automobile -- and then do something about it.
And, since it takes government action to achieve these things, let's have our state government step in and help us. Let's have the legislature pass a law containing 17 provisions. When we are done and finished, CO2 pollution will have been significantly reduced.
1. Require all gas stations to have charging ports for EVs.
2. Allow EVs and other non-polluting cars in HOV lanes.
3. Mandate up-front parking spaces be made available for EVs and other non-polluting vehicles. No, natural gas vehicles do not qualify as they do cause pollution.
4. Set a date for when gasoline and diesel cars will be taken off the road, as California did.
5. Increase the sales tax on gas and diesel.
6. Create a special tax on the sale of new fossil-fuel vehicles.
7. Drop the sales tax on EVs and other non-polluting vehicles.
8. Drop the registration, title, and plate fees on EVs and other non-polluting vehicles.
9. Subsidize the purchase of new EVs and other non-polluting vehicles to match the amount that is recovered from the increased taxes on fossil-fuel cars.
10. Ban advertising on gasoline and diesel vehicles.
11. Advertise, recognize and praise the top-selling EV (and other non-polluting) car dealerships each month. By doing so, you reward them and encourage them to sell even more.
12. Provide free advertising for the least expensive EVs (and other non-polluting vehicles) on the road, mentioning the dealership where the cars are being sold. Since it will bring them free advertising, the companies hopefully will drop their prices to get this recognition and advertising.
13. Undertake a public relation campaign to rally the public behind non-polluting cars and green energy. Make sure that the urgency of removing fossil-fuel cars is made clear to the public.
14. Fund the cost of retrofitting existing cars with electric engines. Don't buy the engine for the public, but fund the work it takes to do the refitting.
15. Provide "community cars" -- non-polluting, of course -- to the poor. Buy cars for them that are to be shared by, say, three families living in the same neighborhood. This might seem a large expense, but of the items on this list, it might be the most important. EVs are expensive, and if you get rid of gas and diesel cars, the poor will not be able to afford an EV.
16. The last two items would be funded by a carbon tax. Industrial companies would be taxed according to how much pollution they emit into the air.
17. Accelerate the decommissioning of coal-fired power plants and their replacement with power plants that rely on solar power, wind power, and other green, non-polluting sources. When the electric vehicle is recharged, it is dependent on the power plants. So, to keep the carbon footprint at zero, those recharges need to coming from green energy sources.
(Index -- Climate change info)
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