The most efficient way to reduce pollution is to make the polluters pay for creating it. The amount of payment should be proportional to the damage caused. This is more effective than regulating behavior or setting controls such as limiting car use. A pollution charge allows each person or enterprise to adjust according to their costs and benefits. Pollution charges would provide revenues that would pay for the cost of monitoring and measuring pollution, and they could even be used to reduce other taxes.
We can measure the emissions of cars with remote sensing devices placed at street intersections and freeway entrances. The technology already exists and can be set up at low cost. Pollution from houses and enterprises should be subject to annual charges rather than only when a property is sold. We should penalize pollution, not the sale of property.
With such a policy, we can reduce harmful emissions by 80 percent by 2020 with little damage to the city's economy. Some who voted against Measure G did so not because it was too green but because it was not green enough. Berkeley can lead the world with both effective policies and a bold target year. Let us direct Sustainable Berkeley, which will work on the issue, to set a target date of 2020. That target will also induce those working on the issue to use the most effective policies.