It Ain’t Easy Being Green
April 21st, 2008 by Peter SudermanIt’s no surprise that many free-market advocates were worried by President Bush’s speech on climate change last week (see here, for starters) — I know I wasn’t thrilled with it. But maybe he was hoping to bring some liberals (or, more likely, moderates) over to his side? Well, looks like his speech, which announced a goal of leveling off greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 didn’t have much success. Case in point, this Philadelphia Inquirer editorial, which can basically be summarized as “About time! But not good enough!” This reaction is hardly surprising. Appeasement rarely works in the policy realm. As a former colleague used to say, when an alligator’s chasing you, the best solution is not to offer to feed it your leg. So it looks like, with this announcement, Bush has alienated some of his supporters, but done little if anything to bring others into the fold.
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:56 am
Subject: 400 idiots three years later (fwd from Europe)
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:21:13 +0200
Experts? took three years researching what became evident in the last year. The problem is food crops are being diverted to make biofuels. Crop production is controlled by Mother Nature. Population growth or demand have out stripped local food crop production.
UN calls for farming revolution
A UN-sponsored report has called for urgent changes to the way food is produced, as soaring food prices risk driving millions of people to poverty.
The Unesco study recommends better safeguards to protect resources and more sustainable farming practices, such as producing food locally.
More natural and ecological farming techniques should be used, it says.
Haiti, Egypt, the Philippines and parts of West Africa have seen riots recently over the costs of rice, wheat and soya.
Unesco, a UN educational body, says increased demand for food in India and China, the growing market for biofuel crops, and rising oil prices are some of the factors behind the rising prices.
SO..?? is the un - solving the problem - or PART of the PROBLEM??
MORE govt Intervention..??.. NO Thank You!
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:38 pm
There are simple solutions to taking care of our planet. Wait until the American people see what the green hysteria will cost them (and wait until we see how it enriches those who stand to benefit from the blossoming green industry). The HVAC industry is already preparing for the future, when costs of systems will likely rise drastically. One thing we might do that should have been done long ago–stop the deforestation of sensitive areas in the Amazon. Another thing we might do: stop the UN from bleeding more funding in the name of global warming. In a recent issue of Time Magazine, Ban Ki-Moon stated the whole solution to Darfur is a green planet–he further stated the genocide there (which the UN refuses to recognize) is a result of drought. Fact is the drought began in the early 1980s and the groundwork for the current genocide began around 1917.
We should do something about our dependence on foreign oil. We should do something to be better stewards of this planet. We should not do it because a failed politician like Al Gore needed a new platform and produced a flawed movie to use as propaganda.
I feel better now.
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:16 pm
The American people already know what the necessary changes are going to cost them, and they are ready to pay the dues. That’s why 50% of America now has the opportunity to get energy for their home from renewable resources. The power companies aren’t doing it for PR - it’s a big business. Millions of people are paying extra to get their power from Green sources. Everyone knows the cost, and the people that use their brains realize that its for the best. Why don’t you?
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:39 pm
The thing is though…renewable resources *don’t* necessarily need to cost more. The more that they are used and invested in…the more the price will come down. Imagine the way things would have been if we had started this process 30-some-odd years ago instead of listening to the oil lobby!
I’m beginning to think that this “conservative” line of high food prices due to increased biofuel use is possibly baloney. For instanace, most of the corn production in this country apparently goes to the production of high-fructose corn syrup, which is not exactly nutritional.
April 24th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Guy — the only reason we produce so much corn syrup is because of sugar subsidies and tariffs on imported sugar — they make using real/natural sugar (which is generally healthier, and tastes better in most cases) prohibitively expensive. More on that here:
http://cei.org/gencon/005,05314.cfm
April 24th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
I don’t necessarily doubt that, but my point is that if they are diverting some corn production to biofuels, how does that drastically affect the price of regular, everyday foods that people need? So what if there’s less sweetener to go around…we don’t need it in the first place IMO. I’m not in favor of ag subsidies BTW.
April 24th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
The problem is that we wouldn’t normally seen nearly as much corn or rapeseed being grown at all. Farmers choose to grow biofuel crops to get the subsidies; without those subsidies, many would be growing something else.
April 25th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Farmers grow all sorts of crops and make money only because of govt. subsidies. Paying people to not grow anything or paying them to grow things that aren’t profitable is just silly IMO.
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:16 pm
For Matt H., this American isn’t willing to pay a price for science by consensus. I do use my brain. If your comments are the brightest thing you can offer someone who disagrees with you, I’d suggest you use yours.
Much of the renewable energy you cite relates to carbon offsets. Those do absolutely nothing to remove carbon–they are just what the name suggests. Gore uses record amounts of electricity at his mansion but his offsets pay for someone to plant trees or eventually cough up enough dough for a windmill.
Lawrence Solomon, who has done more for the environment than Gore can ever hope to, wrote a book containing interviews with leading scientists who disagree with many popular conclusions about the causes of global warming, ‘The Deniers.’ I’d recommend you read it.