Perhaps, because the tunes cry, "Music is my Sanctuary", I am optimistic about the idea of pulling cars off the road in China (BBC). Without going to the extreme of the Mel Brooks musical the Producers, fascism can be good for the environment, at least during the Olympics:

But an article in the state-run China Daily gave details of the further, stricter measures that could be introduced."More vehicles could go off the roads, and all construction sites and some more factories in Beijing and its neighbouring areas could be closed temporarily," a front-page article said. This was confirmed by Professor Zhu Tong, of Peking University, who advises the Beijing government about air pollution.
He confirmed that 90% of the city's private cars could be taken off the roads under these stricter controls

Of course this might not be a great time to be a human rights protestor ... 

UPDATE: Clouds over Olympic Stadium (BBC - August 4, 2004).

Ruben Bolling presents a brilliant analysis of the free market in his long running comic series: Tom the Dancing Bug (after the fold).

• Adam Smith's "invisible hand " metaphor for the seeming utility maximizing order emerging from the free market is taken to the logical extreme. 
• Of course, the increase in oil prices ends up acting like a carbon tax on demand, except that the oil companies that still have the same costs of production reap the reward of rising oil prices. In other words, instead of a carbon tax providing funding for alternative energy sources, the oil companies and their shareholders share the benefits of rising oil prices.
• ...too heavy...maybe the point is that economics and free markets are less realistic than a comic...enjoy the comic below the fold: