Ed. note: This exchange in 2019 between Robert Bradley and climate scientist/activist Andrew Dessler regards adaptation as the key climate policy. It is reposted for its relevance in today’s debate over air conditioning (see yesterday’s post). “Climate mastery” via fossil fuels, as Alex Epstein has emphasized, is the natural, most rewarding public policy. [1]
…“With the very unique situation of CO2 (a global externality of positives and negatives), government mitigation is doomed to fail. Sooner or later, you will have to admit that politics failed, that fossil fuels were just too good given the alternatives of non-use, renewables, nuclear.” (Bradley to Dessler #1, August 3, 2019)
“We have not only market failure but also analytical failure (imperfect you, me, others) and government failure, which is magnified by 190 or so governments.”
“If I am elected president, I will put into place a massive air-conditioning plan, starting in places with the most vulnerable populations.” – Marine Le Pen, leader, National Rally Party (French National Assembly)
It is not easy being green. “Green” energy is hardly green (think wind/solar/battery industrialization), and virtually all climate mitigation activism has negatives for consumers, taxpayers, and freedom. This is less the law of unintended consequences as it is Deep Ecology’s assault on modern living and human betterment.
Fast forward to the summer of 2026. As long predicted, a warming world (natural and anthropogenic) requires adaptation. That means air conditioning, mist machines, and ice generation in increasing amounts to meet the summer peak. Yet the activists despise such basic adaptation on grounds that higher electricity demand will require more fossil-fired generation from existing or new capacity.…
Ed. Note: This post reproduces an advertisement in the Wall Street Journal (April 30, 2026) by central European energy company Orlen, titled “The Baltic Eagle Gas Hub Is Emerging as Europe’s Energy Firewall.” It documents how changed prices and profit opportunities have and will demote the Strait of Hormuz for petroleum and LNG transportation “as if led by an invisible hand”.
“By linking regional markets with global ones, the Baltic Eagle Gas Hub is emerging as part of a new energy-security architecture in Europe—one based not only on diversification of supply, but also on flexibility, regional cooperation, and the ability to respond quickly to shifts in the global environment.”
Rising geopolitical tensions are rippling through global energy markets, with fuel supplies increasingly used as instruments of influence. Countries are responding by diversifying where they buy energy to reduce dependence on any single source.…