2007 Feasta Annual Lecture: Who Owns The Sky?

by Peter Barnes, author of Capitalism 3.0

view Lecture (44:36, 38.3 MB QuickTime movie file)
Date: 7.30pm, Tuesday 13th November, 2007
Venue: Emmet Theatre, Trinity College, Dublin.

The 2007 speaker was successful US social entrepreneur and author Peter Barnes. Peter's work explores how a "cap and rebate" system is our best bet for an ethical and economic framework to stabilise the climate. His previous career has ranged from setting up one of the first solar energy companies in California to pioneering the use of charity credit cards and ethical phone services at www.workingassets.com.

A "cap and rebate" system would "pay" citizens and communities substantial sums of money every year to benefit from rapidly rising carbon prices. It equitably shares out the value of the production authorisation permits needed by fossil fuel companies under a fast declining carbon cap.

A similar approach called Cap and Share is beginning to attract attention in Europe, initially championed in Ireland by Feasta. It is currently being studied by Comhar, the Irish Sustainable Development Council, and by Green Party Environment Minister John Gormley as a way to control Ireland's non-EUETS emissions. Following the lecture, Richard Douthwaite of Feasta gave a brief introduction and update on Cap and Share which you can view (11:53, 21.2 MB QuickTime movie file) or listen to (11:28, 5.25 MB mp3 audio file).

Peter also explores the need for a strong new independent "Third Sector of Commons' Trusts" in the economy with the remit of protecting and sharing out the benefits of commons such as the atmosphere - so overcoming the "tragedy of the commons".

Peter's new short book, Climate Solutions : "A Citizen's Guide - What Works, What Doesn't and Why", was published in November 2007, both in print and as a free download. His previous book, Capitalism 3.0, is also available to download for free at www.capitalism3.com.