“… a $150 per ton of CO2-equivalent (CO2e) tax [is estimated to globally] … increase the price of milk by approximately 49 percent, the price of rice by 67 percent, and the price of beef by a whopping 108 percent.”
Over the course of my career I have often been asked by concerned persons if there is any downside to implementing CO2 emission reduction policies on the off-chance that model projections of future climate change might be right. These well-meaning individuals do not necessarily believe or buy into the mantra of global warming extremism, they simply seek some sort of an insurance policy to defuse fears accumulated from the constant flow of projections of a forthcoming climate apocalypse.
And so it is when legislation like the recent U.S.…
Continue Reading“The solution to keeping the lights on in Texas is … to stop politicians and regulators from micromanaging the Texas energy market. Texas politicians could do this by ending renewable energy subsidies in the state and making renewable companies pay for the costs they impose on the rest of us from their federal subsidies.”
As everyone knows, Texas had the worst blackout in its history during the winter of 2021, when 10 million Texans went without power and 12 million without water. After the Texas Legislature passed a number of bills in response, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott proclaimed, “Bottom line is that everything that needed to be done was done to fix the power grid in Texas.”
At least until this summer, that is, when in May electricity prices skyrocketed in response to generation shortages as the state’s grid regulator ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) asked Texans “to conserve power when they can by setting their thermostats to 78-degrees or above and avoiding the usage of large appliances (such as dishwashers, washers and dryers).”…
Continue Reading“To the extent that the challenges that the article documents are more real than Paul Ehrlich’s 1968 declaration that ‘The battle to feed all of humanity is over,’ the best response is to ignore the scientists’ solutions.”
In January 2021, Paul and Anne Ehrlich and a host of other famous scientists published the grimly titled article, Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future. The piece appeared in the online journal, Frontiers in Conservation Science, “where,” the masthead informs us, “scientists empower society.”
The heavily footnoted article warns that continued population growth will lead to increased consumption which will, in turn, result in loss of biodiversity leading to a 6th mass extinction, climate change leading to mass migrations, declining child health, water and earth toxification, more pandemics, increased terrorism, war over resources, and greater material inequality.…
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