A Free-Market Energy Blog

Fidel Castro’s 1992 Earth Summit Speech: Big Red as Malthusian Green

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 19, 2014

“An important biological species – humankind – is at risk of disappearing due to the rapid and progressive elimination of its natural habitat…. It must be said that consumer societies are chiefly responsible for this appalling environmental destruction.”

– Fidel Castro, Rio Earth Summit, 1992.

“If you look at the time since 1992, we sort of started out with a bang with Rio and Kyoto. [Since then] things have slowed down.”

– Tim Wirth (U.N. Foundation Vice Chairman; former State Department Undersecretary for Global Affairs). Quoted in Lisa Friedman, “The Diplomatic Road to a New Climate Agreement May Not End in Paris Next Year,” ClimateWire (sub. req.), 

Fidel Castro (1926–), one the great wealth destroyers and wealth averters of the last fifty years (he came to power in 1961), has come back in public after an eight-month absence. 

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U.S. National Academy of Sciences: Still More Climate Alarmism (pause, what pause?)

By James Rust -- February 17, 2014

On February 12, the United States National Academies of Sciences (NAS) issued a news release inviting the public to a joint meeting with the UK Royal Society:

On Thursday, February 27th, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and The UK’s Royal Society cordially invite the public to the release of Climate Change: Evidence & Causes, a new publication produced jointly by the two institutions. Host Miles O’Brien from the PBS Newshour will guide a discussion about the publication with authors Dr. Eric Wolff of the University of Cambridge (UK lead), Dr. Inez Fung of the University of California, Berkeley (US lead), Sir Brian Hoskins* of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change, and Dr. Benjamin Santer* of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone, President of the National Academy of Sciences, and Professor Sir Paul Nurse,* President of the Royal Society, will kick off the event.

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Where Wind Studies Go Wrong: Cullen in AEJ (Part II)

By Kent Hawkins -- February 14, 2014

“The level of emissions savings provided by wind plants has never been conclusively determined, taking into account all the factors.”

Part I yesterday questioned the analysis and robustness of Joseph Cullen’s study, “Measuring the Environmental Benefits of Wind-Generated Electricity”. [1] Part II completes the commentary on this paper, covering:

  • Questionable data, which seriously inhibits any analysis of wind performance
  • Interstate trade in electricity, an often overlooked, but important, consideration in understanding impacts on emissions
  • A summary of the acknowledged shortcomings of this paper
  • Questionable opinions/claims made

Questionable Data

The level of emissions savings provided by wind plants has never been conclusively determined, taking into account all the factors. Further, there is no published accurate, minute-by-minute, actual fuel consumption or emissions by individual plant, especially for systems with notable levels of wind present.…

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Where Wind Studies Go Wrong: Cullen in AEJ (Part I)

By Kent Hawkins -- February 13, 2014
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Julian Simon’s ‘The Ultimate Resource’ (1981) Speaks to Us Today

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 12, 2014
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CO2 Benefits Exceed Costs by … 50:1, more?

By Roger Bezdek and Paul Driessen -- February 11, 2014
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AWED Energy & Environmental Newsletter: February 10, 2014

By -- February 10, 2014
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“The Triumph of Capitalism” (Socialism is Intellectually Dead, but Central Planning in the Mixed Economy Lives On)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 7, 2014
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‘Theft of the Subsoil’ (Guillermo Yeatts on Latin/South America mineral-rights reform)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 6, 2014
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Flat Temperatures, Still More Ills

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 5, 2014
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