So Long, Cap-and-Trade. So What’s Next?

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Ever since the slow and painful death of the climate bill in the Senate, it’s been crystal clear that the climate movement desperately needs a breath of fresh air. With this in mind, the Climate Desk partners have convened a panel of experts who, over the next three days, will be brainstorming solutions to the climate crisis—with, of course, your help. The Atlantic‘s Alexis Madrigal is moderating. Here’s his take on the project:

We’re tapping half a dozen innovative thinkers to move the climate debate beyond global treaties and cap-and-trade bills and to the wide world of policy options that haven’t yet gotten their due.

It’s time to break new ground. In a series of essays published over the next three days, we’ll try to build a set of solutions that I think will look less like a climate fix and more like a statement of what industrial policy should look like in America. Outside the magic of a price on carbon, there have to be strategies for meeting the climate challenge.

So taking into account the political realities of our time, what can be done—particularly by US policymakers—to start solving the dual problems of energy poverty in developing nations and global climate change?

Read the rest of Alexis’ post here. To kick off the discussion, Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus, co-founders of the Breakthrough Institute, explain why they believe the cap-and-trade was always doomed to fail—and offer some alternative solutions. Check back tomorrow to read experts’ responses. 

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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