Questions of social and economic class must be at the centre of our response to the climate crisis, to address the huge inequalities between the carbon footprints of the rich and poor and prevent a backlash against climate policies, the economist Thomas Piketty has said.
Regulations will be needed to outlaw goods and services that have unnecessarily high greenhouse gas emissions, such as private jets, outsized vehicles, and flights over short distances, he said in an interview with the Guardian.
Rich countries must also put in place progressive carbon taxes that take into account people’s incomes and how well they are able to reduce their emissions, as current policies usually fail to adjust for people’s real needs.
Well, yeah… until recently.
In the last year it feels like Australia has been indvaded by the oversized “truck”.
We’ve had 4wd “utes” forever. I think yanks would call these trucks but they’re more regular sized, Isuzu D-Max, Toyota Hilux, et cetera. They don’t look out of place in the super market car park.
For reasons unknown to me about a year ago we have been overrun with the big ford F150 or Ram trucks. If you whinge about it someone inevitably cries about how they need it for work… but they managed to survive with a regular ute until last year.
I’m not sure Ford and Dodge should be allowed to make things that big. Many businesses were doing fine in the US with trucks lower to the ground, that had larger more functional flat beds, for many years. It’s only recently that the big truck became a status symbol.