A Free-Market Energy Blog

Climate Alarmism and Malthusianism (rebuttal to Taylor)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 25, 2020

“The pseudo-intellectual right loves to compare climate concern and action with Malthusianism. I’ve never quite understood what the heck these things have in common.” (Jerry Taylor, October 13, 2019)

“What environmentalists mainly say … is not that we are running out of energy but that we are running out of environment–that is, running out of the capacity of air, water, soil and biota to absorb, without intolerable consequences for human well-being, the effects of energy extraction, transport, transformation and use.” (John Holdren, April 2002)

Jerry Taylor, please read the literature before opining on such matters as energy and the environment. Climate change is the latest Malthusian scare, per John Holdren. And the common denominator of the Malthusian worldview is overpopulation, as Pierre Desrochers and Joanna Szurmak document in Population Bombed!

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‘The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels’ Alarms the Alarmists

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 24, 2020

I think [Chevron] is trying to give its employees a reason to come to work every day,” [Danielle] Fugere said. “I’m sure it’s not easy to work at an oil and gas company when those companies are contributing potentially to the downfall of civilization.” (Emily Atkin, below)

Emily Atkin, formerly at The New Republic, has a blog site, Heated, “a newsletter for people who are pissed off about the climate crisis.” How pleasant!

One of her posts caught my eye: a hit piece on Chevron and, indirectly, Alex Epstein, the author of The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels.

In Chevron pushes “the moral case for fossil fuels”, she states:

Earlier this week, a tipster sent me a picture of a pamphlet. They said it was given to them by a friend who works at Chevron.…

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‘Beyond Petroleum’ Now ‘Big Promises’ at BP

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 20, 2020

“Many inside the company, including Tony Hayward, had long thought that [John] Browne was distracted by his pet issues of climate change and environmentalism, and by his flirtations with the public spotlight. They thought he had been obsessed with branding the company and lowering its carbon footprint at the expense of BP’s real business, producing and selling oil.” – Abrahm Lustgarden, Run to Failure: BP and the Making of the Deepwater Horizon Disaster (2012), p. 203.

“The world’s carbon budget is finite and running out fast. We need a rapid transition to net zero.” – Bernard Looney. CEO, BP, quoted in Financial Times, February 12, 2020

British Petroleum Company, then BP Amoco, then BP, has had a troubled history since it went political in the 1990. That history deserves revisiting given its latest rebranding effort.…

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“Is Biomass Dead?” (niche generator struggles)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 19, 2020
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Unsettled Science, IPCC-style

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 18, 2020
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Energy & Environmental Newsletter: February 17, 2020

By -- February 17, 2020
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Cass on Adaptation (the realistic climate policy)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 13, 2020
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Ayn Rand on Energy Disruption (1970s message to Bernie and Bloomberg)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 12, 2020
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’50 Things to Slow Climate Change’ (voluntary today, mandatory tomorrow?)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 11, 2020
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‘Ahuman Manifesto’: The Final Solution to Climate Change

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 10, 2020
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