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    Scan 011

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    shabedekam

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    of 11
    158 CLimare Conruston Politicians and environmentaliss will continue to paint business asthe enemy in ther efforts to gain your support for their cause. to take advantage of wide spread misunderstandings on issues related to global warming ‘They increasingly pander to public perceptions regarding wealth, big business, an pollution, Ths trend cannot be sustained with= ‘out seriously hurting the economy. ‘And there is a very good reason why environmentalists should also be concerned! about hurting the economy, When ‘economic hard times hit taxpayers will start to jettison ther con= Cems about superfluous fsues—like environmentalism. ‘The global warming issue now provides politicians with the ‘ultimate weapon to push for policies that are anti-freedom and anti-prosperity. I big business can be painted as the polluters, instead of you and me, politicians will continue to accumulate power at the expense of our prosperity and freedom, As we will ee all proposed policies to fight global warming will have no measurable effect on future global temperatures anyway, and will definitely hut the economy (he poor being the ‘most vulnerable In fact, we will see that economically damaging policies could actually delay the development of real solutions to the global warming problem. ‘Ws pe sti ni shin eine ss Chapter 8: Dumb Global Warming Solutions Wier Facto wrt a threat like global warming itis only nat ural or people to want to “do something” about it The troubles, its not obvious what can be done that will make much df tence in the foreseeable future Mankind needs an abundant source ‘of inexpensive energy in order to prosper, and lor now fossil fuels fit the bil Any alternative energy’ sources curently proposed to reduce manmade global warming wil have bite impact inthe ext tventy years or 30, no matter what you believe about future levels of warming THI admit to being conflicted on the subject of renewable sources of energy like win and solar While these do have their place inthe energy mis, ther ability to help the global warming problem is pretty limited. I routinely encounter people who ‘argue tha renewable sources of energy can fx” global warming But the global demand for energy is so large that renewables will probably never be able to substantially contribute to our needs 140 CLimarE Conrusion Everyone would love tobe able to say they use @ renewable source of energy—for instance solar or wind-—but when you hand them the bill or tll them a wind farm is being constructed next ‘doot they start having second thoughts. There ate no ecanomicalallematives to fossil fuels on a large ‘enough scale, at least not yet. And given that we will continue to rely mostly on fossi fuels for the foreseeable future, eavicon- ‘mental organizations and some politicians would have you believe that we must attack that problem through punitive meas lures, For instance, the government can mandate limits (aps) on carbon emissions invoke a carbon tax, or make the industrialized counties ofthe world buy the “ight to pollute” (carbon credit) from poor countries. TThave come to the conclusion that politicians who advocate such “solutions” are ether incapable of eritcal thought, oF have underlying political or financial motives. It almost seems li they want to pander to public sentiment, spread socialism, or destroy our modern way of life: Maybe al hrce ‘As explained in Chapter 6, any global warming solution needs to be seriously examined in terms of costs versus benefits. Some politicians advocate policies that give government more control rather than support efforts that will actually fix the problem Despite what thei proponents claim, though, most policies now being discussed are basically all pain for no gain, There isa real danger in spending inordinate amounts of ime anguing over polices that have no hope of fixing the problem. see commercials advocate and hear politicians talk about, aking steps that ae lite more that just enereises in making us fel beter about ourselves. While one might think that such efforts are harmn= less enough even if they do fail, they represent a waste of time and resources that could delay the Finding of eal solutions to the problem, Simply put, wealth destroyed by’ chasing non-solations is no longer available to invest in ral solutions. Belore discussing specific proposed solutions that Ihave placed Dumb Global Warming Solutions 141 in the “dumb* category, we should first briefly address three ‘overriding principles that scem to guide the developers of dumb solutions to global warming Dum Assuatrrton #1: WE CAN REDUCE EMISSIONS. This mistaken notion arses when people ignore the basic eco- ‘omic truths I summarize in Chapter 6. Proponent ofthe var- fous schemes to punish the use of energy believe thatthe resulting pressures on industry to come up with new energy technologies ‘ill actully stimulate economic growth. While such policies will, ‘no doubt, lead to new job opportunites fr afew people it will be at the expense of everyone else such a technique works, why not spur economic activity in the construction industry by destroying all of our cities and towns? Why not spur growth in the medical community by pur- posely giving everyone a disease? ‘Yu cannot punish something that people do asa necessary part of daily commerce, and then expect the economy to benelit from i Anytime economically useful activity is thwarted or pun= {shed, the economy asa whole sles. For every Nobel Prize lau rete in economics that advocates any such positon, there are ten more who know that i is foolishness Duma Assustetton #2: Twe Prrcauriowany Parverrts ‘The Precautionary Principle (PP is often life up as guiding phi- losophy that should be followed when society considers deve ‘oping some new technology The PP states that new technologies that might risk doing damage to human health oF the environ= ‘ment should be avoided. While this sounds lke a laudable goal has one practical problem: no one lives thei fe that way Humanity has elevated itself above the misery, discomfort. disease, and premature death suffered by previous generations 142 Cuimare Conruston through the development of new technologies, all of which have inherent risks, Even the decisions we make as part of our daily lives, no matter how trivial or mundane (eg, crossing the street, cating, involve balancing benefits against sks. That the PP isso popular is simply reflection of how isk adverse our modern culture has become. Both the risks and ben- efits of new energy technologies need to be considered when deciding which new technologies to develop and utilize. We want ‘our electricity to be continuously available, but don't want any more power plants fo be built. We want more wind power, but not ithat means having towers cluttering our view. We want our trash and garbage taken away, but dont want any more andl ‘We like the nonpolluting aspect of nuclear power, but we dont ‘want to deal with the waste disposal problem and security iss. “The people who advocate the PP are the ones who either want us to give up modem life, oF atthe very last wring thei hands ancl complain that there has to be a better ay: They do not ree- ‘ognize the comiortable—indeed wealthy—position from which they voice that opinion. In thei imaginary world, we can have ‘what we want, without risks, only we try hard enough For some reason, this sms 1 be the attitude of many univer- sity professors and intellectuals. When one spends so much time ‘dreaming about theoretical solutions tothe worlds problems, it is easy to confuse fantasy with reality. The practical use for such views goes no further than their bumpersticker: “Imagine World Peace” “Imagine No Pollation” How about, “Imagine Reality”? ‘eople who actively campaign to raise awareness of the global ‘warming problem tend to believe in the PP. But notice that, since they are so rsk-adverse, they offer no realistic alternatives to Fossil fuelsunless you really do yearn t ive in a cave (Again, prob- lem in economics, sine the demand for caves would outstrip the ipply) These folks complain about the problem, but they are clueless when it comes to realistic solutions to the problem. ‘The PP sa guiding philosophy that unrealistically assumes we can have benefits with no risks, Since ti 3 widely assumed 10 be tre by the edu rvironmentally enlightens! and unive Dumb Global Warming Solutions 1.45 ‘ate you need to at least be aware ofits existence. But as areal istic philosophy to gue our decisions regarding possible global ‘warming solutions, the PP doo-doo, Flush it and forget Duma Assustetion #5: Growat Warning: Hunts rr Poor Dravsing upon the basic economic concepts I covered in Chapter 6, let’ review some ofthe rampant misconceptions about the ‘effect ofthe environmental policies on the poor. Environmentalist

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