Guest column by Ken BraunAn anecdote widely attributed to (but perhaps not originating with) Milton Friedman holds that the late, great Nobel Prize laureate was touring a developing nation and happened upon a public works project. To make way for the new road or canal or whatever, platoons of workers using hand shovels were laboriously moving the dirt and rocks from one spot to another. Perplexed by this absurdly primitive approach, Friedman supposedly asked why the government wasn’t using … [Read more...]
“Net Zero by 2050”: Roadmap to Conflict and Poverty
The Biden Administration wants America to make emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases amount to “net zero”—that is, for emissions and removal of GHGs to be equal—by 2050. The Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA, established in 1974 under the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development following the 1973 oil crisis to ensure that oil supplies remained secure) has released a new study purporting to show how to get there.But Dr. David Kreutzer, Senior Economist at … [Read more...]
Obama official concedes it’s impossible to predict the risks of climate change
But media, politicians, and scientists skew climate dataA review of Steven E. Koonin's Unsettled? What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It MattersMark Twain has supposedly quipped that: “What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.” Challenging what we know for sure about climate change is Unsettled? What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters, by Steven E. Koonin. Dr. Koonin … [Read more...]
Against Environmental Anti-Humanism
Guest column by Marian TupyOn April 25, British Vogue published an article titled “Is Having a Baby in 2021 Pure Environmental Vandalism?” The author, Nell Frizzell, “worried about the sort of world” that she would bring her “child into — where we have perhaps just another 60 harvests left before our overworked soil gives out.” In the end, she decided to have a son and teach him to live within humanity’s “environmental means” and free of “the fever of consumerism.”Frizzell is not … [Read more...]
Beyond Industries: Why Half a Billion Other Indians Need Fossil Fuels
India’s population is nearing 1.4 billion and plays an important role in the global economy. Industry, employing about three-fifths of the Indian workforce, and agriculture, employing the other two-fifths, are the twin engines of India’s soaring economy.Both sectors depend on fossil fuels, and the demand for fossil fuels in India is unlikely to diminish anytime soon. The agricultural sector in particular is completely dependent on fossil fuel-based crop enhancement systems.Indian agriculture … [Read more...]
Why “Green Energy” Isn’t “Clean Energy”—or a Good Substitute for Fossil Fuels
Remember President Obama’s “Clean Power Plan”? It aimed to reduce global warming (aka climate change) by cutting American emissions of carbon dioxide from electricity generation. It never got very far, and the Trump Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) killed it.But now President Biden has his own version. He announced his “Energy Efficiency and Clean Electricity Standard” in March. The Washington Post reported it would “turbocharge the country’s transition from fossil … [Read more...]
The Ignorant World and What to Do About It
Guest column by Joakim BookA spectre is haunting the Western world – the spectre of a grossly mistaken understanding of the world.British kids have nightmares about the climate. Half of French respondents think it likely that climate change will cause “the extinction of the human race.” American teachers coddle students who have panic attacks when wildfires rage somewhere on the planet. Eco-anxiety has clearly gripped the Western world, but what’s worse is that most people … [Read more...]
Sensible, sustainable nuclear power for Africa
Economic, environmental and practical reasons make nuclear power Africa’s best optionArticle also by Knox Msebenzi.Centuries ago European countries were scrambling to take control of large pieces of Africa, to increase their wealth and colonial prestige. They brought their sophisticated, advanced ideas and methods to Africa. This changed the developmental direction of African countries, and positive influences were absorbed, while a great deal of unhappiness and conflict also resulted when … [Read more...]
EU’s Carbon Border Taxes and Joe Biden’s Clean Energy plans: A double threat for developing countries
The introduction of the European Union’s Carbon Border Taxes and Joe Biden’s announcement of Clean Energy plans has raised double alarm in developing countries.The new European Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) law will impact all countries exporting to EU, especially those countries without carbon pricing mechanisms. Countries like India, China, Indonesia, Philippines, and even developed ones like Australia, Poland are likely to significantly affected by the CBAM.Climate Justice and … [Read more...]
The Formula for a Richer World? Equality, Liberty, Justice
Guest column by Dierdre N. McCloskey[Editor's note: Dierdre McCloskey is one of the world's foremost economic historians, whose many books have provided extraordinary insights into how societies rise from poverty to prosperity and remain prosperous. We are grateful for Dr. McCloskey's permission to reprint this article, which first appeared in the New York Times and then was republished on the website of the American Institute for Economic Research.---E.C.B.]The world is rich and will become … [Read more...]
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