“We believe it is both unwise and unjust to adopt policies requiring reduced use of fossil fuels for energy. Such policies would condemn hundreds of millions of our fellow human beings to ongoing poverty. We respectfully appeal to you to advise the world’s leaders to reject them.”
“The risks of poverty and misguided energy policies that would prolong it far outweigh the risks of climate change. Adequate wealth enables human persons to thrive in a wide array of climates, hot or cold, wet or dry. Poverty undermines human thriving even in the very best of climates.”
As world leaders contemplate a climate agreement, many look to you for guidance. We commend you for your care for the earth and God’s children, especially the poor. With this letter we raise some matters of concern that we ask you to consider as you convey that guidance.…
Continue Reading“Climate change is likely to increase the frequency of warmer winters and low snowpack.”
– Ben Chou (Natural Resources Defense Council), “California Needs Proactive Ways to Deal with Drought,” EnergyNewsData.com, April 3, 2015.
“Nature makes drought; man makes water shortages. Government water conservation policies, misinformed by the environmentalist ideology of the NRDC, are worsening the water shortage.” (below)
Ben Chou’s March 31, 2015 column on the Natural Resources Defense Council’s “Switchboard” website, cross posted on April 3rd at EnergyNewsData.com, requires rebuttal if we are going to deal with the California drought empirically and not ideologically.
Chou correctly writes that California’s April 2015 snowpack is indicative of the amount of water that can be carried forward into the hot summer months. Even so, water supplies are measured in California over a 5- and 10-year meteorological cycle.…
Continue Reading“It is encouraging that eco-modernists ‘reject the planning fallacy of the 1950s.’ However, they still ’embrace a strong public role in addressing environmental problems and accelerating technological innovation.’ So their rejection of top-down development and innovation is only partial.”
The New York Times has published a remarkable article. Remarkable for the Times, that is. It has taken to task the United States and other developed countries for engaging in heavy-handed eco-imperialism.
The impetus for the article is a new infrastructure development bank being created by China that will begin operations at the end of the year. Such a bank could, as noted by the Times, rival the World Bank and other development banks controlled by the United States. Indeed, the Obama administration initially encouraged countries not to join the bank, arguing that it could undermine the World Bank. …
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