Believe or Know? Modern Environmentalism Reconsidered (Earth Day thoughts for midcourse correction)

By Ben Acheson -- April 22, 2013 2 Comments

When E. O. Wilson said “people would rather believe than know,” he perfectly summed up the state of modern environmentalism. For the fact is that the movement has been radicalized to such an extent that its policies are now characterized by senseless agendas better described as anti-science, anti-business and even anti-human; not pro-environment. [1]

Environmentalism’s gradual shift to extremism didn’t happen overnight and it didn’t happen on its own; the movement was led astray by the green lobby – the conglomerate of NGOs, advocacy organizations and political groups who use environmental motives to enact legislation favorable to their own goals. Today, the green lobby is a dominant force in the political sphere, despite few voters choosing to elect ‘green’ politicians.

Much of the green lobby’s success is directly attributable to its ability to demonize and brand opponents as heretics, even if their arguments are based on verifiable evidence or if they simply want to promote intelligent discussion.

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Is the Great Climate Alarm Winding Down?

By Douglas Gregory -- April 18, 2013 11 Comments

“‘Environmentalism is properly the ideology of controlling everything, which is called totalitarianism.’ Thankfully, it is difficult to squash human ingenuity, and industrialization will be a hard beast to slay, though it is neither impossible nor even complicated.”

While debate still swirls around climate change, recent reporting shows the debate’s hot and cold episodes cycle pretty in tune with changes in weather. Perhaps it will help to stand back and take a broad view.

Climate realists have long been aware that global average surface temperature had stopped sometime around 2000, and even a few years before. Lately alarmists had to admit it. The period with no warming is now as long as was period of warming on which fears were based—17 years according to a leaked draft of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5)—despite continued rise of atmospheric carbon-dioxide concentration.

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All You Need to Know About RECs (Renewable Energy Certificates)

By -- April 12, 2013 13 Comments

The government has created a market in “Renewable Energy Certificates,” also known as a “Renewable Energy Credit.” RECs are yet another way that renewable energy sources take advantage of the public’s good graces, and the propensity for some politicians to be fooled into creative ways to burden unsuspecting citizens.

As far as RECs have a public purpose, two fundamental questions are:

1) Do RECs pay for the generation of new renewable energy as claimed?

2) Do RECs offset fossil fuels as claimed?

Background

RECs are sold in two primary markets:

1) some of the states that have RPSs (Renewable Portfolio Standards) allow part of the renewable mandate to be satisfied by the utility company purchasing RECs (instead of actually buying renewable energy electricity), and

2) businesses and individuals purchase RECs for perceived public relations benefits, or to ameliorate their conscience.

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IMF’s Carbon Tax Shenanigans: Part II

By -- April 10, 2013 7 Comments

The major premise of the International Monetary Fund’s carbon tax proposal is the concept of social cost. According to the IMF, fossil-fuel consumers do not pay for all the harm they do to public health and the environment. Hence, the IMF reasons, fossil energy is under-priced, society consumes too much of it, and corrective (“Pigouvian”) taxes are needed to achieve “efficient” energy markets.

The IMF acknowledges that social cost of carbon (SCC) “estimates in the literature have varied considerably, ranging from $12 per ton (Nordhaus, 2011) to $85 per ton (Stern, 2006).” The IMF’s “estimates assume damages from global warming of $25 per ton of CO2 emissions, following the United States Interagency Working Group on Social Cost of Carbon (2010), an extensive and widely reviewed study.”

Actually, the Interagency Working Group recommends that agencies use four SCC estimates to calculate the per-ton benefits of CO2 reductions: $5, $21, $35, and $65.

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IMF’s Carbon Tax Shenanigans: Part I

By -- April 9, 2013 9 Comments Continue Reading

FERC Order 1000: Cost Socialization for ‘Green’ Energy (NRDC, AWEA Rejoice)

By -- April 8, 2013 13 Comments Continue Reading

Wind Power, Bats, and the Ecological Double Standard

By Paul Driessen and James Rust -- April 5, 2013 27 Comments Continue Reading

A Federal Energy Board? (Hofmeister’s Idea Is Old, Bad)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 4, 2013 8 Comments Continue Reading

Violent Environmental Problems With Wind Turbine Operation: From Avian Mortality to Catastrophic Failure

By James Rust -- April 3, 2013 15 Comments Continue Reading

Response to Media Matters on Wind Power Accidents (dilute or dense energy for health & safety?)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 2, 2013 4 Comments Continue Reading