Renewable Energy, Forestry, Fisheries, and Resource Management: The Green Economic Environment (GEE) Strategy
In 2008 a sudden shift to renewable energy created havoc: Ethanol production began competing with food for land.
We saw what overexploitation did to the cod stocks on the Grand Banks area off the eastern coast of Canada and the US. Of course, there is also the problem of chronic deforestation.
Henderson's structural strategy would provide a way to manage those kind of problems.
Revenue-neutral taxation offers us a free way to promote good practices and discourage harmful ones and overexploitation.
See also Book II of the Waves of the Future Series
Henderson's structural strategy, the Green Economic Environment (GEE), would give us simple options in terms of managing renewable resources, be it fisheries, forestry, or energy production.
The approach would use revenue-neutral taxation to increase the price of products made from materials that are over or improperly exploited. This would reduce demand for them, lower pressure on resources, and promote better management practices. Of course, a revenue-neutral system would mean that taxes on income and retail goods would be reduced in compensation.
Not all renewable energies are equally as good for the environment. Some biofuels, for example the production of ethanol from corn, have a low net efficiency and compete with food and are carbon intensive.
Henderson's approach would increase the competitive advantage of the energies and production methods that are better for the environment. In some cases, regulation could also be used.