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The Daily Tar Heel

Letter: ?Use market to pursue environmental goals

TO THE EDITOR:

When considering how to address climate change, many will have the impulse to jump straight to stricter regulation of American business. Far less burdensome to the economy and equally effective in addressing the issue would be to remove some of the regulatory nightmare of our modern government.

Consider little-known regulations that stifle innovation in the auto industry. Tesla Motors creates cutting-edge electric vehicles, allowing for a potentially huge drop in carbon emissions for future transportation. Yet regulations preventing the direct sale of automobiles to consumers, kept in place by the auto dealership lobby, prevent Tesla from capturing more of the auto market and lowering our emissions.

Solar panels allow Americans to remove themselves from the largely fossil fuel dependent power grid, but many government actions prevent more widespread usage. For example, zoning restrictions and building codes in most states make installation of solar panels on many buildings costly or illegal.

Nationalized flood insurance in the U.S. prevents the costs of climate change from appearing in the price system, yet a private flood insurance market would see higher costs as weather-related damages increase. Making these costs apparent through privatization allows for both more freedom and an incentive for property owners to act on climate change.

Many more examples could be noted, but the point is clear — before we begin enacting more economically burdensome regulations, let’s remove the barriers to American innovation.

Tuck Kennedy, ‘16

Vice President

UNC Young Americans for Liberty

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