Are you for or against Kyoto?

If you are for Kyoto, are you against even stronger measures than Kyoto?

How much do you think Kyoto would cost, as a percentage of GDP?

Kyoto would cost, by most reasonable estimates, 1-2% of GDP. Think of it as 1-2% of your income; $400-800 every year, if you make the median household income.

How much do you think Kyoto would cost, as a percentage of GDP?

One estimate put the present value cost at about $760 billion dollars, or about $2500 for every man, woman, and child in the US.

How much do you think Kyoto would reduce global warming, in degrees (i.e. 1 degree, 2 degrees, 3.5 degrees, etc.)?

According to the Clinton administration’s estimates, Kyoto would reduce global warming by about .14 degrees celcius over the next century.

How much do you think Kyoto would reduce global warming, as a percentage of total warming? (i.e. 1%, 10%, 100%)?

That represents about 4-6% of the median global warming predictions

How much of your personal income would you, personally, be willing to give up to STOP global warming?

I’m guessing your answer is between 3-10%. That’s the average I’ve seen on surveys, but depending on your political persuasion, you might be willing to go as high as 20%

By what percentage do you think national income would have to be reduced to STOP global warming?

My hamfisted estimate of what it would take to bring our emissions levels back to those of 1900 was an 85% reduction in personal income. And that wouldn’t stop global warming, although it would slow it down a lot, possibly to levels where feedback systems in the environment would correct it.

Keep in mind that my estimate isn’t rigidly controlled science. But it isn’t off by an order of magnitude, either. We might be able to get by with a 75% reduction, but we’re not going to achieve it with a paltry 10-20% reduction either, unless the country switches all its electricity production to non-carbon producing sources, changes all the cars over to zero emissions vehicles powered by the non-carbon producing sources. . . you get the idea. Not cheap. Also not possible given the physical limitations of renewables (any utility person will tell you that you can’t generate base-load electricity, which is the steady basic demand portion of our electricity consumption, with an energy source that isn’t reliable, which rules out solar and wind), and the national aversion to Nuclear.

So are you still in favor of Kyoto?