Hey Conservatives, stop attacking Greta Thunberg and come up with better market-led ideas
Nobody likes being lectured at.
Perhaps this aversion explains – although in no way excuses – the sustained attacks on the teenaged climate activist Greta Thunberg by many on the right. Whether it’s vile jokes about her dying at sea or the faux concern about her mental health, anyone who makes such comments should be ashamed.
And those on the right and who call themselves Conservatives should listen to Thunberg warnings. Climate change is a serious problem which the entire world needs to confront.
According to current estimates, unmitigated greenhouse emissions such as carbon dioxide are likely to lead to significant global temperature increases by 2100. If this were to happen, there would likely be significant humanitarian damage, including more severe weather, food crises, and the spread of infectious diseases, all making increased mass migration a very real possibility.
Such a callousness towards future generations is not only unforgivable, it is also unconservative. To paraphrase the founder of the Conservative movement, Edmund Burke, society is a partnership between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.
By mocking people like Thunberg, those who claim to be Conservatives are disregarding this fundamental principle of Conservatism and treating the social contract with contempt.
However, although we should all listen to Thunberg’s warnings about climate change, we should not follow her suggestions for how to tackle it. Sacrificing economic growth on the altar of environmentalism would be a disaster – especially for the poorest people on the planet.
Instead, Conservatives should look to other solutions – such as a carbon tax.
Such a tax would utilise the price mechanism, motivating companies to switch to cleaner and more efficient energy sources, with the costs offset by introducing carbon dividends, ensuring that the burden remains on emitters, not consumers. This would be a much more efficient and market-friendly way to reduce carbon emissions than the numerous regulations currently imposed on companies.
And we can go further. Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion are pushing for a centralised planned economy to achieve their climate aims. Instead, we should go the other way and unleash the full force of the market.
Whether it’s extreme poverty, a shortage of natural resources, or infant mortality, nothing has been as effective at meeting global challenges as free-market capitalism. Climate change is no different. There are companies currently working on new technologies which have the potential to solve the crisis in ways we cannot even imagine, from energy generation to carbon capture to geoengineering.
We should enable these companies and entrepreneurs to flourish by reducing corporation tax and allowing them to immediately deduct new spending on plants and equipment from their taxable income.
Climate change requires market-led solutions – and fast. But Conservatives seem intent on burying their heads in the sand, on this and other crucial issues that could have devastating consequences for the future of humanity.
There is very little work being done, for example, on the potential risks of artificial intelligence reaching a point where it surpasses that of humans, and while the national debt was once a huge concern for Conservatives, it has now been jettisoned in favour of short-term political gains, oblivious to the impact on younger generations.
Instead of kicking the can down the road or dismissing the warnings of people they disagree with, Conservatives and others on the right should take the lead in calling for action.
We should resist the temptation to adopt the left’s policies, but right now, they’re the only ones talking about the challenges that will affect generations to come.
The right needs to stop demonising people who care about these issues, and instead look to the market for solutions that can actually work.
Main image credit: Getty