A new report entitled A New Green Deal, issued by the New Economics Foundation, calls for sufficient and long-overdue policies [ark] to truly address related climate change, food and energy prices, and economic and financial crises. They recommend every home generate its own power, taxing oil and gas firms windfall profits to pay for massive renewable energy investments and other green transformations, and pricing of carbon including through taxes. We have already noted Al Gore’s proposal (albeit somewhat belated) to transition to 100% renewable energy in ten years [search]. At last think tanks and public intellectuals are starting to think in terms of bold, ambitious policies adequate to sufficiently address the looming civilization breakers.

After these various proposals are harmonized by a global group of elders, we need to carry out truthful persuasive communication campaigns to get the public and governments onboard. Such doable and clearly widely beneficial proposals (except perhaps to certain sectors of the elite) are welcome and must be pursued with all haste. However, the New Economics Foundation does themselves a disservice with their carefully hedged dire warning that “new analysis suggests that from the end of July 2008 there is only 100 months, or less, to stabilise concentrations of greenhouse gases [ark] in the atmosphere before we hit a potential point of no return.” In fact this is a prediction, and no one knows for sure. We are just as likely to have already passed that point — and this looming climate tipping point is an actual point, with nothing potential about it.