So maybe there is hope for us yet.After what one Aussie columnist calls "the dirtiest and most dishonest campaign ever waged before the Australian public," with millions of dollars spent on media ads and climate skeptics flown in from around the world, Australia’s House of Representatives voted yesterday, 74 to 72, to levy a tax on carbon pollution. The proposal, which was pushed by Prime Minister Julia Gillard, will impose a price of $23 on a ton of carbon pollution, starting in 2015. After 2015, an emissions-trading scheme will be introduced, with the goal of cutting total carbon pollution 5 percent below 2000 levels by 2020. The legislation still needs to pass the Senate, but because Greens control the balance of power there, that is not likely to be a problem. Unless something dramatic happens, in a few months Australia will have taken an important first step toward saving itself from the catastrophic impacts of climate change.
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