Nonetheless, the impact on temperature of this intense emissions reduction resulting from the optimal carbon tax, as seen on the right-hand side, is rather small. It reduces the temperature in 2100 from 7.4°F to 6.3°F. This is because the planet’s climate has a huge amount of inertia built in, which translates even fairly dramatic reductions in emissions into rather small temperature changes. Even as we reduce our annual emissions, the total amount of carbon dioxide increases, just more slowly. Remember the metaphor of the bathtub? Even if we pour in less water, the water level still
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