I've been concerned about climate crisis for decades. I went back to UC Berkeley in the early '90's to get a Masters in Public Policy looking for a solution. In fact, that's what drove me toward social psychology. I realized we had the hardware and software to avert disaster, but not the wetware. To paraphrase, the Clinton-era insight, "It's the psychology, stupid." Minds or wetware are the problem. My next degree was a Ph.D. in Decision Theory.
With the climate crisis, every little bit we do adds up to not nearly enough. That's because most of what we do runs against psychological, political and economic currents. For decades, I've looked unsuccessfully for a way to align psychological, political and economic currents with what the climate requires.
Recently I think I've found something. It originates in the work of Peter Barnes. He called it the Sky Trust and then Capitalism 3.0. Here's a mini-manifesto. I invite you to join my fledgling Green Tea Party Facebook group
JOIN THE GREEN TEA PARTY AND PUT MONEY IN YOUR POCKET
The Tea Party is right about government. It no longer represents our best interests.
The greens are right about business, which doesn’t represent our best interests either. Corporations fund, lobby, and control our politicians, leaving us citizens with a raw deal.
If the family farm was killed by agribiz, our national family is being killed by Goverbiz, the unholy alliance of government and corporations. It’s naïve to believe either government or corporations will save us.
Some of us hope that people will come to their senses and take back government, but realistically, the scale is tipped against ordinary citizens because corporations own the government.
But there is a way to rebalance the scale.
Collectively, we citizens own our nation’s public assets, for example our airwaves, rivers, and the sky above us. Naively, we trusted government to manage these assets for us, but instead they give them away free to corporations without compensating us.
The Green TEA Party demands compensation to you and me for the private use of our shared assets. We call for the establishment of not-for-profit trusts to manage our shared assets, governed by trustees accountable to us and shielded from political and corporate influence. The Alaska Permanent Fund, which pays Alaska’s citizens an annual dividend from the sale of publicly owned oil, is an example.
The Green TEA Party proposes to make polluting corporations pay for using our air, water and soil, and to share the proceeds equally among all of us. This will not only reduce pollution; it will provide economic security to American families, without expanding the size of government.
Imagine, for example, a National Sky Trust established to manage our atmosphere in our long-term best interest. Every year it auctions to oil, coal and gas companies the right to dump polluting gases into the sky. Then it turns around and electronically transfers equal shares of the revenue into our bank accounts and debit cards. The results: cleaner air and extra income for all.
In a real free market, corporations pay for what they use and therefore make responsible choices. If they have to pay to pollute, they’ll pollute less. And if we share the revenue, we’ll all benefit. This is a solution that works for everyone: liberals and libertarians, conservatives and conservationists, supporters of democracy and of capitalism.
Spread the word: Make corporations pay to pollute and put money in your own pocket. Money that’s rightfully yours because you co-own our public assets.
Join the Green TEA Party today.
They’re Everyone’s Assets
"Like" the Green Tea Party on Facebook.
Download a free copy of Peter Barnes' book: Capitalism 3.
Download a free copy of Capitalism 3.0 as an audio book
