My favorite colleen pointed us to this New York Times story about how Ireland is using carbon taxes to reduce green house gases and promote better environmental stewardship.

“We are not saints like those Scandinavians — we were lapping up fossil fuels, buying bigger cars and homes, very American,” said Eamon Ryan, who was Ireland’s energy minister from 2007 to 2011. “We just set up a price signal that raised significant revenue and changed behavior. Now, we’re smashing through the environmental targets we set for ourselves.”

Lazy readers can click on the accompanying video report.