It’s fascinating to observe the path of many contentious environmental problems. They attract national attention, the future is seen as foreboding, and then, years later, they have been solved, ameliorated, or forgotten. Acid rain and fluorocarbons exemplify this path. Regulations may solve the projected problems, and we sometimes find that the alleged problem is less […]
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A friend has asked me to support federal legislation ostensibly designed to reduce carbon emissions, speed our transition to an alternative energy future, and create green jobs. He believes this can only happen through government intervention. While his intentions are good, his reliance on government is misplaced. Here’s why. Europe’s promotion of green energy has […]
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I happened to be reading Arnold Kling and Nick Schultz’s excellent new book, From Poverty to Prosperity, when the earthquake struck Haiti. This quake was a 7.0 magnitude event, the same as the Bay Area quake of 1989. The geological disturbances may have been equal but the result surely was not. The California quake killed […]
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Several Bozeman friends have traveled to Washington DC to support legislation ostensibly designed to reduce carbon emissions and speed our transition to a green energy future. They are convinced that this can only happen through government intervention. Perhaps. But I’m skeptical. Here’s why. Europe as a model for U.S. energy policy? Europe’s promotion of green […]
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In 1965, the American economist Kenneth Boulding popularized the phase “Spaceship Earth” expressing his concern about the fragility of our planet. His logic went something like this: since the Earth’s resources are finite, just as bacteria growing in a petri dish will eventually exhaust their resources, we too must sooner or later run up against […]
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Please click here for Green Jobs: Hope or Hype? by Pete Geddes.
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Climate & Society Last week, returning from a visit with foundation officers and state-supreme court justices in Washington, John, Ramona, and I made it home just as Bozeman was being thumped with two feet of snow and much below normal temperatures. (We did not consider the prospect of an extra night in Great Falls pleasant.) […]
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(1) “Give me half a tanker of iron, and I’ll give you an ice age.” “Most people are aware that CO2 and temperature are positively correlated in the long historical record but fewer people know that iron dust correlates negatively on the same scale — that is, temperature and CO2 levels are low when iron-dust […]
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Plans to create five million “green jobs” took a hit last month with the resignation of Anthony “Van” Jones, the President’s green jobs czar. Jones quit not because his claims regarding creating green jobs became exposed for the myth they are, but rather for a series of impolitic remarks and revelations of associations with unsavory […]
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The economic crisis has accomplished something that many nations have been trying, and failing, to do for years—reduce CO2 emissions. This reality highlights the enormous social and technical challenges we face. Is a continuing recession and reduction in prosperity the best way to deal with climate change or any environmental problem? No. Economic growth and […]
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