TT`s Lost in Tokyo

Mind Games: how an absence of functioning markets means that I'm right, but you're a delusional, neurotic "zealot"

2008-07-09T01:45:00Z

My last piece, on Bret Stephen 's straight-faced but ridiculous dismissal in the WSJ of all concerns about climate change as a "sick-souled religion" and a "nonfalsifiable hypothesis, logically indistinguishable from claims for the existence of God". brought the following piece of mail, from a contrarian scientist blogger that I offer here as a further illustration of the common dynamics of misperception and tribal side-taking (as I have noted recently in the context of remarks...(read more)

Mind Games: Bret Stephens of The Wall Street Journal panders to "skeptics" by abjuring science and declaring himself an expert on "mass neurosis"

2008-07-08T11:30:00Z

On July 1, The Wall Street Journal ran a jaw-droppingly astonishing, juvenile and profoundly self-deluded column by editorial writer Bret Stephens . In the editorial, entitled " Global Warming as Mass Neurosis ", Stephens concludes that "Global warming is sick-souled religion." When I put the thing down, I couldn't help thinking that this was either an impeccably well-done " Onion " spoof of a WSJ column or an April Fool's post that was accidentally put up three...(read more)

Citizens fight wildfires in Northern California ...

2008-07-08T04:36:00Z

as this article in the July 7 NY Times shows. This is not at all surprising, as owners all have incentives to protect their property, and relatively small communities of people can work together well when needed. One can expect to see increasing sophistication in voluntary fire-fighting and in fire prevention, particularly if limited resources and relative remoteness makes it difficult for government "ride to the rescue". PS: Don't look now, but the Western wildfire season is now 78...(read more)

Bob Murphy punts on whether "Cap and Trade" is a "market solution"

2008-07-08T04:08:00Z

In response to my comments last month to Bob Murphy 's June 4 blog post, Cap and Trade Is Not a "Market Solution" , Bob has kindly noted on the blog thread his intention not to let my comments on his post remain the last word: Just following up on an old thread here: TokyoTom, I have to pass right now on answering your (good) objections. As with Silas [aka Person], I can't take the time to give you a really good answer, just to post on a blog. For what it's worth, I do plan...(read more)

[Mind Games:] Penn & Teller - "Bull****" artists - get ready to change their "skeptical" stance on climate change

2008-07-06T23:41:00Z

There's an interesting bit of arm-twisting, self-deception, defensiveness and reluctant position-shifting going on in the libertarian science skeptics crowd, and Penn and Teller seem to be letting the social pressure help clear their minds. At James Randi 's gathering of skeptics in Las Vegas last month ( The Amazing Meeting 6 ), apparently both Penn and Teller very reluctantly conceded in response to audience q & a that they now "don`t know " whether or not " global warming...(read more)

Inquiring minds?! Wherein the author jumps through hoops for a "skeptic" on the wonders of CO2 (that man has no influence on)

2008-07-03T08:57:00Z

An LvMI blogger sent me the following inquiry, which I post here - along with my response - as a public service. I note first that I am no climate expert, but someone who doesn`t mind a little scientific or other inquiry. Question : "I would like to see your response to this: http://www.rationalmind.net/2008/06/09/co2-rise-making-the-earth-greener-more-diverse/ " [headline: "CO2 rise making the earth greener, more diverse"] This link brings me to a wepage that quotes ANOTHER webpage...(read more)

Robert Sohn of Wood's Hole: the 1999 Arctic seafloor volcanic explosions are NOT responsible for rapid sea ice melting

2008-07-02T06:37:00Z

In personal email correspondence with me, geophysicist Robert A. Sohn , the lead scientist on the international team that reported last week about powerful explosive volcanic activity in 1999 in the deep Arctic Ocean seafloor has strongly rejected the wild speculation - thrown up by Investors Business Daily (" Are Volcanoes Melting Arctic? ") and rapidly picked up by the gullible "skeptical" blogosphere - that such volcanic activity has any responsibility for the recent disturbingly...(read more)

Lomborg's brilliant climate plan: leave GHG externalities alone and let governments spend 0.05% of GDP on picking winning low-carb technologies!

2008-06-29T06:53:00Z

The folly practically speaks for itself . Why does Bjorn Lomborg think that governments can better determine worthy investments than private firms? And that such investments should be borne by ordinary taxpayers rather than those who are generating the externalities that are the basis for his concern? And why does he think governments around the world will each bear their fair share of such expenditures, instead of free riding? Lomborg's policies will simply lead to more politically directed...(read more)

Peabody Coal is VERY concerned about how Jim Hansen is "cheapening the dialogue"

2008-06-28T21:37:00Z

In response to Jim Hansen's recent expressed desire for "public trials" for fossil fuel executives if, despite being "aware of long-term consequences of continued business as usual," they continue their "campaigns" "to spread doubt about global warming" in order to "blocked [the] transition to our renewable energy future", Andy Revkin of the The New York Times has received and posted on the NYT's "Dot Earth" blog a note from Vic...(read more)

Why top demagogues (Jim Hansen, Florida Power, RAND, Exxon, AEI, Margo Thoring, major economists, George Will) prefer rebated carbon taxes

2008-06-27T21:20:00Z

I have previously blogged on libertarian, non-state, approaches to climate change ; allow me to use this post to pull together for diligent readers various recent sources of opinion and information on carbon taxes - which are much more transparent, easier to implement and, if rebated , are much more likely to both be ethically fairer to citizens (and thus more poltically sustainable) and involve much less pork than, cap and trade policy proposals: - Dr. James ( "PublicTrials" ) Hansen ...(read more)

Jim Hansen warns of slow-motion disaster and welcomes future public trials of fossil fuel CEOs for buying government delay

2008-06-27T01:25:00Z

Prominent climatologist Dr. James Hansen , Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Adjunct Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University, who has long been warning of the long-term consequences of man's essentially uncontrolled experiment with the world's climate through emissions of GHGs (CO, methane and CFCs), soot and agricultural practices, has recently ramped up his message that urgent action is needed in order to avoid triggering "dangerous"...(read more)

[Update] Another Clear Thinker at Mises warns us about "The vicious lie behind the global warming scare"!!!

2008-06-26T20:08:00Z

This time it`s David Veksler , with a post on the main LvMI blog , with the title I`ve quoted above. Why is it that so many Mises commentators flee from reason and prefer a fever-pitched focus on strawmen when it comes to addressing environmental issues? I copy below my comments on the thread [note: I've added a few links, along with bracketed comments]: David, I read your post with interest, but came away disappointed, for a number of reasons. First and foremost, you didn`t identify the "vicious...(read more)

George Will on why a carbon tax is much preferable to cap and trade

2008-06-24T07:40:00Z

The Warner-Lieberman bill has been withdrawn for consideration by Congress this year - and thank goodness. Why do I say that? A few weeks ago George Will published a column that explains very clearly why we are fortunate that this bill has been put on hold, and why, if any climate change policy is to be adopted by government, a carbon tax is much preferable to cap and trade . Here are excerpts (with my emphasis added in bold): If carbon emissions are the planetary menace that the political class...(read more)

Good stuff: Ron Bailey, Fred Smith and Lynne Kiesling debate climate change policy at Reason.org

2008-06-23T06:22:00Z

I highly recommend that readers view the debate (or the transcript) between the above participants that Reason held last October but has just given renewed prominence at Reasononline and in their July 2008 print edition. Ron Bailey is the Science Correspondent at Reason and is the author of ECOSCAM: The False Prophets of Ecological Apocalypse (1993) and the editor of Global Warming and Other Eco-Myths: How the Environmental Movement Uses False Science to Scare Us to Death (2002), Earth Report 2000...(read more)

More on deliberate cooling via geo-engineering

2008-06-21T07:38:00Z

See Ron Bailey's recent summary of developments about whether it may be possible to buy time on climate change with technological fixes. Libertarian Iain Murray supports government funding of geo-engineering approaches. See my previous posts for more on geo-engineering. More at the NYT's Dot Earth blog Possible geo-engineering obviously poses a number of sticky issues regarding government action in this area, including justification, choices of technology and responsibility for possible risks...(read more)