origins of cap and trade?

First of all, I love the trip to Goshen today - thanks grad profs for arranging all those very interesting meetings! It was great to hear all of the different perspectives and what different people with different careers can do to help the community and the environment. I thought the most interesting part of the discussions we had was listening to how very practical and by the books the mayor had to speak. Every time he was asked about vision A, for example, he answered with practical aspects only of what would have to happen to reach vision A. We read so much theory (and utopian theory at that!) it is a nice change to have a conversation about how the visions of these visionaries come to play in a city the size of Goshen.

I also thought it was great that Myron is doing so much to support fair trade for his business. The roast-his-own coffee idea was great! It's super to see local business owners doing unconventional things like that. Although, his answer to Maddie's question that food bought locally is technically fair trade because it was purchased in the United States where we presumably have laws to protect the workers was a bit questionable... one has to do a lot of research in this country to find out if they are buying supplies from companies who pays migrant workers in cash and gives them no benefits or protection and treat them very poorly. There are a lot of companies who abuse the availability of cheap, disposable labor in this country.

The readings for last night were great! I loved reading about the Pigou and Coase theory-- sounds like the beginnings of Cap & Trade to me! I found it interesting that the reading mentions that Pigou and Coases's environmental economic theories are often criticized because there were problems with the practical applications of them (in Europe, for example). Cap and Trade has been tried and there are clear problems (like Annie Leonard says in the Story of Cap and Trade), but does the United States examine these problems and learn from them? It doesn't seem that way... I don't know how much the plan was tailored to work better than the already failed cap & trade policies in Europe. This is something I'd like to know more about.

Also, the Buddhist economic plan is wonderful. Imagine a world where we practiced "economics as if people mattered..." (Steiguer, p177). It seems that Ten Thousand Villages are practicing these kinds of economics. And Electric Brew as well. Also, Rachel's Bread in Goshen is quite people conscious! I hope this idea spreads....

Quite a hopeful day!