'I feel guilty about flying, but I have a sick relative and a wedding coming up. Help!'
'I feel guilty about flying, but I have a sick relative and a wedding coming up. Help!'
- February 13, 2019
- Jan Brueckner, economics, via Yale Climate Connections, Feb. 13, 2019
-----
This is the Achilles’ heel of focusing on individual carbon footprints. It’s difficult to get people to alter their behavior if they believe others won’t. That’s particularly true if there’s a personal cost to the behavior change, said Jan Brueckner, an economist at the University of California, Irvine. “Relying on altruistic behavior is just not the way to tackle the global warming problem,” he told me in a recent interview. “You need government policies to induce mass changes in behavior, not individual ones.”
Brueckner’s preferred answer to the problem is a carbon tax. Impose a fee on sources
of carbon dioxide, such as jet fuel, he explained, and the price of airline tickets
will increase, nudging everyone, not just altruistic people, to fly less.
For the full story, please visit https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/02/i-feel-guilty-about-flying-help/.
-----
Would you like to get more involved with the social sciences? Email us at communications@socsci.uci.edu to connect.
Related News Items
- Careet RightDemolition of abandoned Westminster Mall begins as new development breaks ground
- Careet RightFlying in America is about to get more expensive and less fun
- Careet RightMamdani's proposed property tax increase faces swift political pushback
- Careet RightCalifornia population growth flattens amid Trump immigration crackdown
- Careet RightForeclosures are surging under Donald Trump