I am looking at a fat study titled “The Benefit and Urgency of Planned Offshore Transmission: Reducing the Costs of and Barriers to Achieving U.S. Clean Energy Goals." The term FERC occurs a whopping 92 times. Not surprisingly the 103-page report is mistitled. It is actually about the onshore transmission of offshore wind power, not offshore transmission. The urgency is that the present power system cannot handle all that offshore juice coming ashore. FERC is in the crosshairs because they … [Read more...]
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Escape From Model Land’
In the early days of my career in meteorology, which included determining the impact of air pollution emissions using mathematical models, one of my bosses, concerned about the outcome of a computer model I was using to assess a contentious industrial operation, asked me: “What will the model show?” I replied facetiously: “Well, what do you want it to show?” In no way was I going to manipulate a model to get the results I or anyone else wanted. But the point is that models can produce results … [Read more...]
Challenging “Net-Zero”: Conquering Poverty While Stewarding the Earth in the Age of Climate Change
Image: Creative Commons under Unsplash The claim is rampant: manmade climate change is an existential threat to human and planetary survival. To prevent it, we must reach "net-zero carbon emissions," ASAP. That means no more energy from fossil fuels; no more internal-combustion vehicles; no more nitrous fertilizers; eating less meat, or none; getting all our energy from wind, solar, and geothermal, and all our food from "organic" farming; and, consequently, shrinking and impoverishing human … [Read more...]
Elevated Living Standards Contradict Climate Doomsayers
Climate protestors destroying artworks and gluing themselves to roads without offering a shred of evidence for their alarm exhibit a malicious stupidity that is blind to the actual state of the world. Why do these activists not hold up placards with graphs, histograms, and Venn diagrams? Because actual data show that life today is much better than at any time in human history. Ignored is the fact that the change in climate has made Earth better and helped to advance humanity. Image: … [Read more...]
Proposals For a Windfall Profits Tax Are Damaging Even If Never Enacted
In the wake of the midterm election results, President Biden has made it clear that “I’m not going to change,” in particular with respect to his view that “the oil companies are really doing the nation a real disservice.” Image: Creative Commons under Unsplash Accordingly, it is easy to predict a continuation of the incoherence of the Biden stance toward conventional energy: a policy environment reducing investment in future discovery, production, and ancillary capital … [Read more...]
Newly Released Survey Revealing Evangelicals Most Skeptical About “Climate Change” Is Evidence of Cornwall Alliance’s Influence
On November 17, the Pew Research Center released the results of a new survey about Americans’ views on the environment, particularly climate change. Pew’s report on the survey results says they showed that “highly religious Americans overwhelmingly say God gave humans a duty to protect and care for the Earth, but far fewer see climate change as a serious problem.” Specifically: 92% (including 86% of evangelicals) say God gave us that duty, but only 42 percent consider climate change an … [Read more...]
Thoughtlessness Leads to Tragedy for Man and Beast
The adage “familiarity breeds contempt” applies to behavior around wild animals, whether in herds of bison or elk, or a roving bear, cougar, or gator. Wild animals larger than an average-sized dog should be given a safe, wide berth, as a matter of course. They are not part of a petting zoo. As the 2022 tourist season draws to its close, several untoward incidents, some involving reckless behavior around large animals, have been reported that, unfortunately for the humans involved, proved … [Read more...]
Welcome to Cold War II
Trying to Save the Planetfrom the People Who Are Trying to Save the Planet Two scenes from my toddlerhood in Calcutta, India, have flashed in my mind thousands of times over the last 60-plus years. The first was of a beautiful tree with a red-flowered vine hanging from its branches. The second was of the emaciated bodies of people who had died overnight of starvation and disease. I saw the tree and its vine as my aia, or nurse, led me by the hand through the courtyard of the building … [Read more...]
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Image: Creative Commons under Unsplash In an article on the Reformation21 website titled, “When ‘If You Give a Mouse a Cookie’ Is All the Logic Left,” Justin Poythress, Pastor of All Saints Presbyterian Church in Boise, ID, offers some wise caution about the typical way in which people try to persuade each other. His words are particularly relevant to much of what goes by the name of persuasion about environmental issues, including among Christians. Here I will quote him at length and then … [Read more...]
You Can Act to Prevent Implementation of California’s All-EV Plan
Last month, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a rule by the California Air Resources Board to require 100 percent of new car sales in California to be zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2035: “We can solve this climate crisis if we focus on the big, bold steps necessary to cut pollution. California now has a groundbreaking, world-leading plan to achieve 100 percent zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035," the Governor said. He added: “This plan’s yearly targets – 35 percent ZEV sales … [Read more...]
