A measured response to COVID-19 must balance health and economic needs Fifty 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...]
As We Spend Earth Day Inside, Let’s Get Creative about Conservation
Why incentives matter more than ever this Earth Day. Guest column by Hannah Downey and Holly Fretwell It is sobering that much of the world will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of Earth Day sheltered inside. Rather than wandering in nature, we are wondering what comes next. In the midst of this uncertainty, politicians and interest groups are still finding time to push for environmental regulations. In passing the most recent coronavirus-response legislation, intended for emergency … [Read more...]
Four Reasons Alarmists Are Wrong on Climate Change
Earth Day this year focused officially on the need to reduce plastic litter, a worthy and achievable goal. Nonetheless, much Earth Day activity concentrated on the alleged need to save the planet from climate change. Climate-change alarmists have long called the current warming period “unprecedented” and “dangerous.” But is it? Ironically, this Earth Day fell in the midst of one of the coldest Aprils in North American history. The severe winter of 2017–2018 has raised debates from two … [Read more...]
Earth Day and the Bizarro World of Climate Alarmism
Much of the world celebrated Earth Day last Sunday. No one did it more enthusiastically than global warming alarmists. Global warming alarmists, like their ideological kin Progressives and Leftists, look at the world differently. More conservative types, like yours truly, don’t exactly view reality through rose-colored glasses. I’m no Pollyanna. I concede we occupy a fallen world. Yet by comparison, the alarmists’ worldview is considerably farther out on the spectrum of woe. Alarmists … [Read more...]
Steering clear of climate alarm: climate change alarmists should chill on Earth Day 2018
Sunday, April 22 will mark the 48th anniversary of Earth Day. A lot of concern about the planet’s future was generated back then and a passionate movement was launched that endures to this day. But much has changed since 1970 when the Earth was in a substantial cooling trend. Today, of course, the angst is over a significant warming. The big concern is that, because of “carbon pollution,” the planet will heat up to catastrophic levels causing all sorts of problems like rising sea levels, … [Read more...]
Earth Day 2017 and the Anti-Scientific ‘March for Science’
It’s no mere happenstance that the “Marches for Science” were scheduled for Earth Day — this Saturday, April 22nd. The March organizers flew the flag of climate alarmism as soon as they announced the events. This, for instance, is from one of their early blog posts warning against a right wing “war on science”: Much of the War on Science will be subtly fought, casting doubt on … climate change. … This is a well-known tactic, thoroughly documented in the book Merchants of Doubt. At his … [Read more...]
Modern mavens and maxims of meteorological mayhem
Here’s a bit of earthy mirth for Earth Day 2016. Inspired by the atmospheric angst of the November-December 2015 Paris climate change conference, late last year, we proposed new weather wonkery c our versions of popular meteorological anecdotes like the witticisms of old that folks frequently used to stay ahead of storms. For example, one of the most familiar traditional axioms is “red sky in morning, sailors take warning; red sky at night, sailors delight.” We proffered alternative, … [Read more...]
Today Is Earth Day – So?
You’ll see it all over in the media. Tuesday, April 22, 2014, is Earth Day—the 45th annual Earth Day, in fact. And the media will, as usual, trumpet various alarms, some of them with at least a grain of truth, many grossly exaggerated, some simply false.Various exposés of Earth Day hype have been published through the years, with a good one by Cornwall Alliance friend Alan Caruba just appearing on Sunday.But at the root of all the false thinking associated with Earth Day—and environmentalism … [Read more...]
God, Man, and the Environment
On April 22nd, much of the world will celebrate international Earth Day. Like many fads, the popularity of this event has waned throughout much of the West. This may owe something to the fact that the dire consequences predicted by many ecologists have not eventuated. Despite this, many people of faith continue to preach a type of “Green Gospel,” claiming that an ecological apocalypse will be upon us unless various policies – usually involving various forms of government regulation – are … [Read more...]
Dominion and Stewardship: Believers and the Environment
“Man is created to praise, reverence and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul. The other things on the face of the earth are created for man to help him in attaining the end for which he is created. Hence, man is to make use of them in as far as they help him in the attainment of his end.” St. Ignatius of Loyola A welcome development of the past thirty years has been the emergence of less-utilitarian attitudes towards the environment by believers and non-believers alike. No … [Read more...]
