--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If our goal in legislating against carbon…" description: "\"If our goal in legislating against carbon releases is not simply punishing the West and its power companies but truly trying to reduce the accumulation..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06d/gregg-easterbrook-16327_accumulation_if-our-goal-in-legislating-against-carbo_1106685.jpg" --- # If our goal in legislating against carbon releases is not… ![“If our goal in legislating against carbon releases is not simply punishing the West and its power companies but truly trying to reduce the accumulation of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, the main event will be in the developing world. We must use the smartest possible economics, and that…” quote by Gregg Easterbrook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06d/gregg-easterbrook-16327_accumulation_if-our-goal-in-legislating-against-carbo_1106685.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06d/gregg-easterbrook-16327_accumulation_if-our-goal-in-legislating-against-carbo_1106685.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06d/gregg-easterbrook-16327_accumulation_if-our-goal-in-legislating-against-carbo_1106685.jpg) > “If our goal in legislating against carbon releases is not simply punishing the West and its power companies but truly trying to reduce the accumulation of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, the main event will be in the developing world. We must use the smartest possible economics, and that means investing in China and India.” [Gregg Easterbrook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregg-easterbrook/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Effective climate policy must involve developing nations using smart economics, not just punish the West. **In simple terms:** Global climate action needs cooperation, not blame. Key Takeaway Invest in clean tech worldwide. Themes environment economics global cooperation Mood concerned optimistic Type policy strategic When to use this quote - international negotiations - energy projects - technology transfer Key Concepts climate finance policy design development economics Questions to Reflect On - How can we align economic incentives with climate goals? - What barriers exist for clean tech adoption in emerging markets? A Different Perspective Political resistance may hinder investment in developing regions. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Accumulation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accumulation/) [Atmosphere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atmosphere/) [Carbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/carbon/) [Carbon Releases](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/carbon-releases-2927399/) [China](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/china/) [China and india](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/china-and-india/) [Climate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/climate/) [Company](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/company/) [Developing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/developing/) [Developing world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/developing-world/) [Economics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economics/) [Events](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/events/) [Goal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/goal/) [Goals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/goals/) [Greenhouse Gasses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greenhouse-gasses-1052772/) [Greenhouses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greenhouses/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [India](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/india/) [Investing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/investing/) [Legislating Carbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/legislating-carbon-507685/) [Mean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mean/) [Release](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/release/) [Trying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trying/) [Use](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/use/) [West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/west/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [I think 99% of climate scientists would agree that we need to reduce emissions as quickly as possible, and then begin removing greenhouse gasses…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-d-klein/i-think-99-of-climate-scientists-would-agree-that-we-need-to-reduce/) [Margaret D. Klein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-d-klein/) > [I don't rule out the possibility of legislating a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, a market-based mechanism,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julia-gillard/i-don-t-rule-out-the-possibility-of-legislating-a-carbon-pollution/) [Julia Gillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julia-gillard/) > [Anything that reduces fuel consumption and cuts down on greenhouse gasses is good news.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-foster/anything-that-reduces-fuel-consumption-and-cuts-down-on-greenhouse/) [Norman Foster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-foster/) > [There are several types of greenhouse gasses, but carbon dioxide is the most important.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-c-mann/there-are-several-types-of-greenhouse-gasses-but-carbon-dioxide-is/) [Charles C. Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-c-mann/) > [... the consensus of the scientific community has shifted from skepticism to near-unanimous acceptance of the evidence of an artificial greenhouse effect. Second, while…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregg-easterbrook/the-consensus-of-the-scientific-community-has-shifted-from-skepticism/) [Gregg Easterbrook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregg-easterbrook/) > [If China and India were as rich as the United States is today, the market for cancer drugs would be eight times larger than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-tabarrok/if-china-and-india-were-as-rich-as-the-united-states-is-today-the/) [Alex Tabarrok](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-tabarrok/) > [How can you possibly have an international agreement that's effective unless countries like China and India are not full participants?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-w-bush/how-can-you-possibly-have-an-international-agreement-that-s-effective/) [George W. Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-w-bush/) > [The idea that China and India will just abandon climate action is not true, because they're doing it for more reasons than we are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/the-idea-that-china-and-india-will-just-abandon-climate-action-is-not/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [It certainly makes sense to expand the pulp industry in Indonesia, .. It's clear that it will be a very competitive exporter of pulp…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-walker/it-certainly-makes-sense-to-expand-the-pulp-industry-in-indonesia-it/) [David Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-walker/) > [It would be really great if I discovered a cure for cancer, but it would only be a little bit less great if my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-tabarrok/it-would-be-really-great-if-i-discovered-a-cure-for-cancer-but-it/) [Alex Tabarrok](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-tabarrok/) > [Burma wants to have good relations with our neighboring countries, China and India. I do believe the United States itself wants to live in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aung-san-suu-kyi/burma-wants-to-have-good-relations-with-our-neighboring-countries/) [Aung San Suu Kyi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aung-san-suu-kyi/) > [The thing that makes me most optimistic is China and India - both of them doing well.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/freeman-dyson/the-thing-that-makes-me-most-optimistic-is-china-and-india-both-of-2/) [Freeman Dyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/freeman-dyson/) > [If I were personally to define religion, I would say that it is a bandage that man has invented to protect a soul made…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-dreiser/if-i-were-personally-to-define-religion-i-would-say-that-it-is-a/) [Theodore Dreiser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-dreiser/) > [The number of people displaced by dams is estimated at between 40 million and 80 million, most of them in China and India. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-brown/the-number-of-people-displaced-by-dams-is-estimated-at-between-40/) [Paul Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-brown/) > [There are more obese people in the world than starving people. As China and India start to develop our eating habits - and not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-safran-foer/there-are-more-obese-people-in-the-world-than-starving-people-as/) [Jonathan Safran Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-safran-foer/) ## More by Gregg Easterbrook > [Seek happiness and you may or may not find it; seek grievances and you are guaranteed success.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregg-easterbrook/seek-happiness-and-you-may-or-may-not-find-it-seek-grievances-and-you/) [Gregg Easterbrook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregg-easterbrook/) > [Set aside the many competing explanations of the Big Bang; something made an entire cosmos out of nothing. It is this realization-that something transcendent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregg-easterbrook/set-aside-the-many-competing-explanations-of-the-big-bang-something/) [Gregg Easterbrook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregg-easterbrook/) > [The science has changed from ambiguous to near-unanimous... Based on the data I'm now switching sides regarding global warming, from skeptic to convert.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregg-easterbrook/the-science-has-changed-from-ambiguous-to-near-unanimous-based-on-the/) [Gregg Easterbrook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregg-easterbrook/) > [I'm working seven days a week in the fall. I couldn't possibly keep that up. This is only for the fall. In the last…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregg-easterbrook/i-m-working-seven-days-a-week-in-the-fall-i-couldn-t-possibly-keep/) [Gregg Easterbrook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregg-easterbrook/) > [A spacecraft is a metaphor of national inspiration: majestic, technologically advanced, produced at dear cost and entrusted with precious cargo, rising above the constraints…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregg-easterbrook/a-spacecraft-is-a-metaphor-of-national-inspiration-majestic/) [Gregg Easterbrook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregg-easterbrook/) > [When television producers say it is the parents obligation to keep children away from the tube, they reach the self satire point of warning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregg-easterbrook/when-television-producers-say-it-is-the-parents-obligation-to-keep/) [Gregg Easterbrook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregg-easterbrook/) > [For what I wrote that started this whole controversy, I deserved to be criticized, and I felt bad about writing it. I felt bad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregg-easterbrook/for-what-i-wrote-that-started-this-whole-controversy-i-deserved-to-be/) [Gregg Easterbrook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregg-easterbrook/) > [How many times have you bought something thinking it would make you happy, and found it does not?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregg-easterbrook/how-many-times-have-you-bought-something-thinking-it-would-make-you/) [Gregg Easterbrook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregg-easterbrook/) > [But if you could make that mistake and press the send button and the entire world sees it forever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregg-easterbrook/but-if-you-could-make-that-mistake-and-press-the-send-button-and-the/) [Gregg Easterbrook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregg-easterbrook/) > [Even though Rush is not me and the situations were very different, I think, in the Rush Limbaugh thing, ESPN was criticized for not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregg-easterbrook/even-though-rush-is-not-me-and-the-situations-were-very-different-i/) [Gregg Easterbrook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregg-easterbrook/) > [Inevitably, these sorts of things are going to come back to blow up in people's faces.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregg-easterbrook/inevitably-these-sorts-of-things-are-going-to-come-back-to-blow-up-in/) [Gregg Easterbrook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregg-easterbrook/) > [“The Blue Hose of Presbyterian College and the Ichabods of Washburn University are perhaps the most amusing nicknames in collegiate sports; Blue Hose refers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregg-easterbrook/the-blue-hose-of-presbyterian-college-and-the-ichabods-of-washburn/) [Gregg Easterbrook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregg-easterbrook/) > [... the consensus of the scientific community has shifted from skepticism to near-unanimous acceptance of the evidence of an artificial greenhouse effect. Second, while…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregg-easterbrook/the-consensus-of-the-scientific-community-has-shifted-from-skepticism/) [Gregg Easterbrook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregg-easterbrook/) > [Jewish persecution is a historical memory of the present generation and people fear it in the present day, and that's why those references are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregg-easterbrook/jewish-persecution-is-a-historical-memory-of-the-present-generation/) [Gregg Easterbrook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregg-easterbrook/) > [Autumn truly is what summer pretends to be: the best of all seasons. It is as glorious as summer is tedious; as subtle as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregg-easterbrook/autumn-truly-is-what-summer-pretends-to-be-the-best-of-all-seasons-it/) [Gregg Easterbrook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregg-easterbrook/) [Explore all 40 Gregg Easterbrook quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregg-easterbrook/) ## More Accumulation quotes > [Age is an accumulation of life and loss. Adulthood is a series of lines crossed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-goodman/age-is-an-accumulation-of-life-and-loss-adulthood-is-a-series-of/) [Ellen Goodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-goodman/) > [Before World War II, I was living a very cloistered existence, as most cartoonists do. The work I was pouring out did not come…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-eisner/before-world-war-ii-i-was-living-a-very-cloistered-existence-as-most/) [Will Eisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-eisner/) > [It is more than a little ironic that "capital accumulation" once a rather tendentious Marxian view of a supposed capitalist obsession, should have become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-kuttner/it-is-more-than-a-little-ironic-that-capital-accumulation-once-a/) [Robert Kuttner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-kuttner/) > [The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-madison/the-accumulation-of-all-powers-legislative-executive-and-judiciary-in/) [James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-madison/) > [I think that only daring speculation can lead us further and not accumulation of facts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/i-think-that-only-daring-speculation-can-lead-us-further-and-not/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [Karma is often wrongly confused with the notion of a fixed destiny. It is more like an accumulation of tendencies that can lock us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-kabat-zinn/karma-is-often-wrongly-confused-with-the-notion-of-a-fixed-destiny-it/) [Jon Kabat-Zinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-kabat-zinn/) > [There has been, for some reason (or more likely an unfortunate accumulation of reasons) a trend over the past several decades for parents to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-hax/there-has-been-for-some-reason-or-more-likely-an-unfortunate/) [Carolyn Hax](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-hax/) > [Ageing is, simply and clearly, the accumulation of damage in the body. That's all that ageing is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aubrey-de-grey/ageing-is-simply-and-clearly-the-accumulation-of-damage-in-the-body/) [Aubrey de Grey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aubrey-de-grey/) > [For me, personally, there is one really interesting thing. You're all a bit too young for that, but when you get to a certain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christoph-waltz/for-me-personally-there-is-one-really-interesting-thing-you-re-all-a/) [Christoph Waltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christoph-waltz/) > [The mounting burden of taxation not only undermines individual incentives to increased work and earnings, but in a score of ways discourages capital accumulation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-hazlitt/the-mounting-burden-of-taxation-not-only-undermines-individual/) [Henry Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-hazlitt/) > [When the accumulation of wealth is no longer of high social importance, there will be great changes in the code of morals. We shall…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-maynard-keynes/when-the-accumulation-of-wealth-is-no-longer-of-high-social/) [John Maynard Keynes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-maynard-keynes/) > [The native American has been generally despised by his white conquerors for his poverty and simplicity. They forget, perhaps, that his religion forbade the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-alexander-eastman/the-native-american-has-been-generally-despised-by-his-white/) [Charles Alexander Eastman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-alexander-eastman/) > [The soul lives forever by giving, not receiving. This is the grand paradox. You get most by giving most. Conversely, by receiving much you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-johnson/the-soul-lives-forever-by-giving-not-receiving-this-is-the-grand/) [Julian Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-johnson/) > [Forgiveness of the present is even more important than forgiveness of the past. If you forgive every moment - allow it to be as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/forgiveness-of-the-present-is-even-more-important-than-forgiveness-of/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-kennedy/too-much-and-too-long-we-seem-to-have-surrendered-community/) [Robert Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-kennedy/) [Browse all 412 Accumulation quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accumulation/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If our goal in legislating against carbon releases is not simply punishing the West and its power companies but truly trying to reduce the accumulation of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, the main event will be in the developing world. 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