Free Market Environmentalism

I have advocated for the abolition of the Environmental Protection Agency and its supporting legislation. Why? The EPA epitomizes Soviet-style central planning. Its approach to environmental problems ia a form of tyranny that kills jobs and destroys the environment globally by exporting pollution.

In a review of a global warming book, economist Walter Block explains,

Let us make a few heroic assumptions. Anthropogenic global warming, due to greenhouse-gas emissions, is a fact. Sunspots, etc., are not responsible. There is an ideal world temperature, such that man's actions will either exceed it, or fall below it, and that this will be harmful on net balance, not beneficial.

On this basis, Baer et al. consider two approaches to addressing this danger: first, "assign obligations to the industrialized countries on the basis of both their ability to pay (wealth) and their responsibility for the majority of prior emissions, or, second, to assign emissions rights on a (possibly modified) equal per capita basis."

But, they ignore a third, which is far more justified than either of those. For, given our assumptions, emitting gas constitutes, in effect, a trespass. And what, pray tell, does "equity" have to say about uninvited border crossings? It is simple: the perpetrators of these property-rights violations, and only the perpetrators, must be brought to the bar of justice. I agree with their emphasis on individuals, not groups, but equity requires that we should ignore ability to pay as a criterion for fines. Rather, the guilty should pay, and not the innocent, just as in the case for ordinary trespass.

The EPA approach is for the relatively innocent to pay, because they can bully the innocent (or, relatively innocent).

Who are the guilty? Third world (sorry, developing? Uh, I'm not sure the current politically correct euphemism) countries, mostly.

The excessive EPA regulations in this country contribute to high production costs. what does a rational company do? Import from cheaper sources abroad. That is how we export our pollution.

Walter Block is an interesting guy.

David Evans Must Read, From Former Global Warming Alarrmist

Here is the teaser:

The whole idea that carbon dioxide is the main cause of the recent global warming is based on a guess that was proved false by empirical evidence during the 1990s. But the gravy train was too big, with too many jobs, industries, trading profits, political careers, and the possibility of world government and total control riding on the outcome. So rather than admit they were wrong, the governments, and their tame climate scientists, now outrageously maintain the fiction that carbon dioxide is a dangerous pollutant.

You know you want to read it all. Read it in the Financial Post (Canada).

United Nations Global Warming Lunacy

A peer reviwed study posted on a United Nations website (UNEP, whatever that is) predicted that there would be 50 million "climate refugees" by 2010.

As Patterico puts it, the prediction missed the mark by only 50 million.

Naturally the UN is taking away the pages without fanfare. Not even an oops, we goofed.

All the President's Men: John Holdren

I have in the past written about President Obama's radicals in his Commissar appointments. (I don't like the term Czar, which was a pre-Bolshevik Russian dictator). References here and here.

At the end of the following clip, Mr. Holdren's statements in the 1970's predict a global crisis of ... cooling.

Never let a crisis go to waste, I guess.

Al Gore Missed Me

Over the weekend, Al Gore accused Rush Limbaugh, Fox News and the Wall Street journal editorial page to conspiring to "mislead" the public about the global warming myth.

I am disappointed. OK, I am small fry, but I really, really want to be part of that conspiracy to tell the truth, and I think I have been. From Noel Sheppard at Newsbusters:

The man whose schlockumentary has been so discredited that a British judge in 2007 noted nine material falsehoods in "An Inconvenient Truth" that must be disclosed to students if shown in a public school is pointing fingers at others for conspiring to spread misinformation.

Also hysterical is his claim that "global corporations base their profit margins on the ability to pollute" as it seems a metaphysical certitude that his own profits and investments in advancing this myth didn't surface during his address or the subsequent Q & A.

Let us all join THE CONSPIRACY TO TELL THE TRUTH about the global warming myth.

Let us all send Al Gore back to his home planet, whatever that is.

Global Warming Myth for 2010

The exceptionally cold winter that Europe is experiencing does not disprove the myth of man-made global warming.  However, there is plenty of other evidence that does.

This illuminating chart is well explained by today's American Thinker articleby Howard Richman & Raymond Richman.

Is the earth on a warming trend? Probably. What is causing it? The sun.

Warming by natural causes. Yet, the Al Gore crowd wants us to spend bank breaking big bucks on entirely ineffective solutions to ward off a non-existent catastrophy.

Global Warming: I'm A Denier

More headlines: Clean Air and Global Warming

I am almost tempted to classify this under humor, but the following headline is for real:

Could Cleaner Air Actually Intensify Global Warming?

The story follows:

As much of the world marked Earth Day this past week, the Environmental Protection Agency reported that air pollution has declined dramatically over the past 20 years. It sounds like good news, but science writer Eli Kintisch argues that there's a surprising downside: Cleaner air might actually intensify global warming.

"If we continue to cut back on smoke pouring forth from industrial smokestacks, the increase in global warming could be profound," Kintisch writes in an opinion piece for the Los Angeles Times.

Read it all.

Fire up those obsolete steel foundries and fight global warming!

OK, I could not resist. I did file this under humor. Unintended humor though it is.

Britain Bans Ads Exaggerating Global Warming

Britain has discovered that its government (like ours) has been making exaggerated claims about global warming. So, the the Advertising Standards Agency has banned the scare-mongering ads produced by the British government.

See the BBC article.

Al Gore: Murderer

So this is what the phony global warming hysteria has come to. Al gore did it deliberately. His purpose has been to scare people. He wanted to scare people, feeding into their trust and gullibility, into spending tax dollars on, you guessed it, Al gore's projects.

And scare them he did. One couple was so scared that the did a whole suicide pact thing, almost killing their little girl along with themselves.

Al Gore will have to answer to that one in Hell.

h/t The Funeral Guy

Global Warming Myth Crumbling Updated

Two new stories from the British media show the rapid decline of the factual basis behind the global warming hysteria.

First, the IPCC has been forced to admit to yet another embarrassing error in its famous report. This time, the error is about the supposed rising sea levels in the Netherlands. The Guardian reports.

And over on the BBC, there was interview with British global warming advocate and climatologist Phil Jones, in which he admits, among other things that that has been no statistically significant warming from 1995 to present. In fact, Prof. Jones admits that there has been global cooling since 2002, but denies that it is statistically significant. Ignore the man behind that curtain.

The interview is here and the BBC analysis and report is here. The guy is still a True Believer, but a fair reading of his interview suggests that he is quick to rationalize his way out of contradictions. Look at his "hide the decline" answer in particular. He admits that he was trying to hide data that he considered contrary to data he preferred to use and which, of course, supported the global warming myth.

You see, it really is like a religion. Isn't it funny how the American media fails to report on or critically analyze this stuff.

Update: The London Times weighs in with more global warming skepticism with article headlined: "World may not be warming, say scientists."

The wheels are rapidly coming off the global warming hysteria. Where is the U.S. media? Hmmmmm?

Time for Congress to Ban Snow Storms

A funny opinion article in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

A better climate-change bill

By Sam Ryan
As the mid-Atlantic region faces yet another massive blizzard, the problem of unregulated snow can no longer be ignored. It's time for Congress to set limits on the crystalline mayhem descending through the atmosphere and disrupting the lives of hardworking Americans.

Certainly, snow-control legislation would require political will and bipartisan support. But if today's policymakers don't put an end to snowstorms, these boom-and-bust blizzards will continue to undermine our nation's growth and prosperity.

Consider the facts: Local governments such as Philadelphia's are struggling to deal effectively with the amount of snow we're getting. With Washington in the path of a major storm again, essential federal services will be shut down. And weatherpersons "predict" snow, but they don't do anything about it.

Read it all.

What really strikes me as funny here comes from the Marxist mentality of some of our Congressfolk. They seem to think they can legislate the laws of economics. Of Course they can no more change the laws of economics by legislation, than they can ban snow storms.

Global Warming and Snowstorms Updated

Inevitably, the nasty weather hitting Washington has the global warming skeptics (like me) crowing and the global warming hysterics (like MSNBC and most of Washington) getting defensive.

Here is moonbat Contessa Brewer, frequent unindicted runner up for Moron of the Day:



And here is Time, breathlessly assuming that the world is warming:

[W]hat happened to climate change? After all, it stands to reason that if the world is getting warmer - and the past decade was the hottest on record - major snowstorms should become a thing of the past, like Palm Pilots and majority rule in the Senate....

Apparently, none of these folks actually follow the news. The earth has been steadily cooling these last ten years according to the BBC.

Update: Check out John Lott's opinion piece on Fox News.

Telegraph Reports: Global Warming Hysteria Based on Unreliable Data

The Telegraph Reports: New errors in IPCC climate change report.

This is not really anything new, of course, but we are delighted to see the mass media, at least in Great Britain, begin to report on the massive fraud that is the man-made global warming (uh, sorry, "climate change") movement.

Moron of the Day: Securities Exchange Commission

The three Democaratic members of the Securities Exchange Commission, Chairman Mary L. Schapiro and her two Democrat colleagues, share the coveted Moron of the Day title (one loud raspberry) for their 3-2 vote to require securities issuers to disclose to shareholders the risks of global warming, despite the now widely acknowledged fact that global warming was mythical and wholly non-existent (there have now been ten straight years of global cooling).

Latest Stimulus Scandal

The Obama administration creates 1.62 jobs for only $541,000.

Such a deal.

They give the money to a Penn State professor, Micheal "Hide the Decline" Mann of Climategate fame.

Never trust your money to government.

Global Warming Religion Takes Another Hit

Man-made global warming belief proceed on the theory that the last 150 years of industrialization has increased the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. The latest scientific research reported in Science Daily finds that carbon dioxide levels have not increased in the last 150 years:

To assess whether the airborne fraction is indeed increasing, Wolfgang Knorr of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol reanalyzed available atmospheric carbon dioxide and emissions data since 1850 and considers the uncertainties in the data.

In contradiction to some recent studies, he finds that the airborne fraction of carbon dioxide has not increased either during the past 150 years or during the most recent five decades.

Latest News on Global Warming

Headline: Briton pulled alive from Swiss avalanche as record freezing weather grips Europe, North America and Asia

Read more: Daily Mail.

Some clown wrote a letter to the Columbus Dispatch several months ago entitled "Global Warming for Dummies." This dummy argued that, contrary to the laws for physics, our colder weather for the last eleven years results from melting polar ice caps releasing more icebergs. He did not bother to explain how the global temperatures are dropping, how the antarctic ice has been expanding, and that the reports of arctic ice decreasing resulted from a computer model error.

Global Warming is a religion.

Thousands Gather to Protest Global Warming

Global Warming Update: Frigid Weather Kills 79

AFP Reports: 79 killed in Poland from Winter freeze.

Of course isolated cold weather does not tell the whole story. But how dumb do you have to be to still believe in global warming after 11 straight years of global cooling?

Really.

Update: Interestingly, the Climategate emails actually discuss this problem. The so-called scientists are baffled by that fact that their theories cannot account for the reality of falling temperatures. Their solution seems to be to find a way to make the data fit their theories, rather than the other way around (which would be the true scientific approach).