Anti-Capitalist Sentiment (with some morality)

[rong]

So we're relying on do-gooders to look into the environment? I don't see how they would have the funding required. There's a huge amount of money that's gone into research on climate change and I don't see where that would have come from. Once it's out there I understand how a company might see it as an opportunity for differentiating itself but I don't see how the knowledge would come about in the first place. Climate change is not comparable to hotel reviews in terms of money/effort/time and other resources required to gain an informed opinion from scratch.

[Renton]

So we're relying on do-gooders to look into the environment? I don't see how they would have the funding required. There's a huge amount of money that's gone into research on climate change and I don't see where that would have come from. Once it's out there I understand how a company might see it as an opportunity for differentiating itself but I don't see how the knowledge would come about in the first place. Climate change is not comparable to hotel reviews in terms of money/effort/time and other resources required to gain an informed opinion from scratch.

It's comparable in terms of the concept though: people want the environment (in TA's case, restaurants/hotels/bars) vetted so they can make informed decisions.

But to go in a different direction, a non-socialist concept that would improve climate change is increasing property rights. If a land owner owns the cone-shaped volume from the earth's core to the stratosphere, then any pollution that enters this cone is technically an act of aggression against his property. Currently this not the case so there's a tragedy of the commons. People have suggested a carbon tax which is effectively the non-libertarian version of this concept. A carbon tax is harsher though, and being accountable to other private individuals is a little easier to handle than being accountable to a state. If polluters were held accountable to the people they were polluting, then there would be less polllution.

The same goes for private roads. The scanning technology exists for roads to be handled privately and without any free riders. Road owners would then reserve the right to charge more to higher-pollution vehicles, giving a direct incentive to drive less or choose a less polluting car. Roads would cost more during rush-hour, giving a direct incentive for businesses to change their hours from 9 to 5 to 11 to 7 or 7 to 3, resulting in less traffic, less emissions, and less fuel wasted in busy metro areas. Keep in mind that I am quickly dusting over a very complex issue, I'm just trying to illustrate that non-government solutions exist.