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...]
A Plea to My Evangelical Friends for Biden
October 20, 2020 by Dr. Peter JonesHow should genuine Christians vote in the up-coming presidential election? Recently a group called “pro-life evangelicals for Biden” sought to answer that question. The group includes many prominent evangelical leaders whom I respect who believe “that a biblically shaped commitment to the sanctity of human life compels us to a consistent ethic of life that affirms the sanctity of human life from beginning to end.”[1] Essentially in using the … [Read more...]
Newsom vows to fast track toward Germany’s failed climate goals
He wants an electrical grid of intermittent electricity free of fossil fuels before 2045California Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Friday, September 11, that he is about to take one giant step toward following Germany’s failed climate goals, which should be a wake-up all for governments everywhere.Like Germany, California’s renewables are becoming an increasing share in intermittent electricity generation, but at a high cost. Power prices in Germany are among the highest in … [Read more...]
India Crafts Fossil-Fuel Pathway to Secure its Future
India is on the way to become a fossil fuel-based energy powerhouse of the 21st century.India’s developmental goals for the future are quite ambitious. They ought to be: From tackling the surging poverty rates to providing affordable utilities, the country faces a steep challenge. The key to achieving any of its developmental goals is a strong energy sector. India is the third largest energy consuming nation and is following the fossil fuel pathway (like the West did during the 20th century) to … [Read more...]
50th Earth Day: Compassionate concern for humans and their habitat
A measured response to COVID-19 must balance health and economic needsFifty years of weather have passed since the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. This was the same year the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was established and the federal Clean Air Act was promulgated.Over the past five decades, since I rode my bike to school celebrating that inaugural day, the nation’s air quality has improved markedly. Particle and gaseous pollutants have been reduced tremendously, and … [Read more...]
No Roads and No Electricity: Why Fossil Fuels are Indispensable for Development
I live in the Silicon Valley of India, Bangalore. Except for the tech companies, there aren’t many similarities between Bangalore (now Bengaluru) and the Silicon Valley in California.I live in the northern part of the city. Roads here remain in an unusable condition. They are worse than any bad road you would find in the U.S. The road leading to my neighborhood—frequented by thousands of cars every day—has remained dug up for more than 400 days now. In fact, reports indicate that around 30,000 … [Read more...]
Ah, the Complexities of Liberal Environmentalism!
Laugh? Scream? Cry? What's the proper reaction to a letter from liberal Democratic Senators Charles Schumer (NY), Maria Cantwell (WA), Ed Markey (MA), and Robert Menendez (NJ) to President Donald Trump decrying the harm rising gasoline prices does to American families. (It's always about the family, you know! Whatever a "family" might be.) All four Senators have supported raising federal taxes on gasoline as a way to fight global warming by reducing consumption. The tax increase would, of … [Read more...]
What Would the Precautionary Principle Imply for Ethanol?
In 2007 Congress passed a law requiring the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to study and report every three years to Congress on the environmental impact of EPA’s ethanol mandate. And in the intervening nine years, EPA has complied with the law once—in 2011. Now it says it’ll be 2024 before it can manage it again. So by the time it should have filed five such reports and be working on its sixth, EPA expects to file its second. Meanwhile, multiple studies not done by EPA have … [Read more...]
Climate Science, Energy Policy, Poverty, and Christian Faith: How do they Connect?
(Editors Note: Click graphs to enlarge) In the March 16, 2016, issue of Forbes astrophysicist Ethan Siegel’s article "The Next Great Global Warming ‘Hiatus’ is Coming!" sought to refute skeptics of catastrophic anthropogenic global warming (CAGW) by arguing that the apparent lack of statistically significant global warming over roughly the last 18 or 19 years is just one in a series of lulls in a long-term warming trend for which human action is responsible. His article, deftly argued and … [Read more...]
Why You Should Mourn Implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement
The climate agreement reached in Paris last December will become effective on Earth Day, (Friday, April 22) with a ceremony at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. We’ll all hear of heroic world leaders who joined together in Paris to ensure the planet’s survival. The Obama administration will try to enforce the agreement (which meets all the legal criteria of a treaty though the President chooses not to call it that to evade Senate disapproval) by imposing the Environmental … [Read more...]
