Climate Change and Global Warming 
Recent Research and Commentary
How Green Are Your Nukes?
Environmentalists Stewart Brand and Al Gore debate nuclear power in two new books.
November 10, 2009
The role that nuclear power might play in addressing the problem of man-made global warming is fiercely disputed among environmentalists. Two new books by big names in the movement stake out the boundaries of that debate. On the pro-nuclear side stands Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto, by Stewart Brand. And parked in the (more or less) anti-nuclear corner is Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, by Al Gore. A self-described “green,” Stewart Brand founded and edited the counterculture Whole Earth Catalog back in 1968. In his first book, Earth in the Balance (1992), then-Sen. Al Gore argued, “We must make the rescue of the environment the central organizing principle for civilization.”
SuperFreaking Out Over Climate Engineering
Freakonomics authors freak out environmental activists by suggesting a technical fix for global warming
November 3, 2009Although flawed, in SuperFreakonomics, Levitt and Dubner have done citizens and policymakers a real service by breaking the taboo on discussing the feasibility and risks of climate engineering in public.
Will SuperFreakonmics Effect Our Approach to Climate Change?
October 31, 2009, 12:12pmClimate Change and the Nanny State
Do we need the government to save us from ourselves?
September 23, 2009This week, prepping for the upcoming Copenhagen climate change talks, Dr. Steven Chu, our erstwhile energy secretary, crystallized the administration's underlining thinking by claiming that the "American public ... just like your teenage kids, aren't acting in a way that they should act. The American public has to really understand in their core how important this issue is."
Doubling Down on Climate Change
Activists want America to reduce emissions to 1960s levels. Is that even possible?
September 22, 2009We're talking about the equivalent of shuttering every single one of America's coal plants in favor of hundreds of new nuclear facilities, hundreds of thousands of windmills, or millions of solar panels—or perhaps replacing the entire U.S. auto fleet with zero-emissions vehicles. The magnitude of such an effort would be similar to the projected costs of President Obama's proposed government-funded health insurance plan or the price tag for the War on Terror. These are big changes, not to be glossed over in glowing speeches about international cooperation and our bright green energy future.
Is Government Action Worse than Global Warming?
Why policy nihilism may be the only rational response to climate change
September 9, 2009Man-made global warming may simply be a negative externality for which the transaction costs are too high. In other words, any benefits achieved from trying to mitigate global warming will most likely be swamped by the costs of distributing the corporate welfare used to buy the political acquiescence of various industries. As much as one might hope to implement good public policy to deal with the problem, policy nihilism might be the only rational response to global warming.
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- How Green Are Your Nukes?
Environmentalists Stewart Brand and Al Gore debate nuclear power in two new books.
Ronald Bailey
November 10, 2009 - SuperFreaking Out Over Climate Engineering
Freakonomics authors freak out environmental activists by suggesting a technical fix for global warming
Ronald Bailey
November 3, 2009 - Climate Change and the Nanny State
Do we need the government to save us from ourselves?
David Harsanyi
September 23, 2009 - Doubling Down on Climate Change
Activists want America to reduce emissions to 1960s levels. Is that even possible?
Ronald Bailey
September 22, 2009 - Is Government Action Worse than Global Warming?
Why policy nihilism may be the only rational response to climate change
Ronald Bailey
September 9, 2009 - Warming Up for a Climate Change Fight
Obama's getting ready for the U.N. global warming conference. So is Bjorn Lomborg.
Ronald Bailey
September 1, 2009 - Cash for Clunkers Destroys Wealth and Resources
Program isn't delivering on its eco-goals
Shikha Dalmia
August 12, 2009 - Cash for Climate
How to get your money's worth on climate change geoengineering
Ronald Bailey
August 11, 2009 - How Green Is Your Crystal Ball?
The National Academy of Sciences tries to predict America's energy future. Again.
Ronald Bailey
August 4, 2009 - California's Economic Climate Change Denialism
There's no free lunch when it comes to cutting greenhouse gases
Ronald Bailey
July 21, 2009 - Why Poor Countries Won't Curb Emissions
Massive greenhouse gas reductions would require developing countries to abandon plans to ever conquer poverty
Shikha Dalmia
July 15, 2009 - Let's Do Something—Anything
The trouble with the new "cap and trade" bill
David Harsanyi
July 1, 2009 - The Cost of Doing Something
Declaiming the price of "inaction" is a perennial argument for big government and bad law
Matt Welch
July 1, 2009 - Congress Is Hiding Cap-and-Trade Energy Price Increases
Central fact of the cap-and-trade proposal is that it will increase the price of energy
Ronald Bailey
June 10, 2009 - Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions Without Reducing Mobility
Focusing on cutting vehicle miles traveled is the wrong approach
Robert Poole
June 9, 2009 - Energy Price Deceit
Congress tries to hide its cap-and-trade energy price increases
Ronald Bailey
June 2, 2009 - President Obama's Energy Plans Have a History of Failure
Alternative energy subsidies make their biggest comeback since Jimmy Carter
Ronald Bailey
May 20, 2009 - Waxman's Cap-and-Trade Plan Functions Like a Tax Increase
Proponents need to stop pretending cap-and-trade will cost nothing and create tons of jobs
Ronald Bailey
May 20, 2009 - Coming to Your Garage: Le Car
The trouble with the government's new automobile emissions and efficiency standards
David Harsanyi
May 20, 2009 - Cap-and-Trade Delusions
Proponents need to stop pretending cap-and-trade will cost nothing and create tons of jobs
Ronald Bailey
May 19, 2009 - Conservation Theater
As green as an SUV tow truck
Radley Balko
April 29, 2009 - Save the Humans!
Beware the government's latest climate change power grab
David Harsanyi
April 22, 2009 - Cap-and-Trade Handouts
"The largest corporate welfare program ever enacted in the history of the United States"
Ronald Bailey
April 9, 2009 - Does Nature Have Economic Value?
Ecological economists know the price of everything--and the value of nothing
Ronald Bailey
March 24, 2009 - Clouding Up Man-Made Global Warming
Final dispatch from the International Conference on Climate Change in New York
Ronald Bailey
March 11, 2009 - Poll Finds Jobs, Environment Are Top Priority for Americans
...but so is almost everything else.
Katherine Mangu-Ward
March 11, 2009 - What Planetary Emergency?
Dispatch from day two of the International Conference on Climate Change in New York
Ronald Bailey
March 10, 2009 - Among the Global Warming Skeptics
Dispatch from the International Conference on Climate Change in New York
Ronald Bailey
March 9, 2009 - Scenes from the Clean Energy Summit
The special interest groups had fun. But that doesn't make them wrong.
Ronald Bailey
February 24, 2009 - Wagging the "Fat Tail" of Climate Catastrophe
How much should we pay to avoid the tiny risk of total destruction?
Ronald Bailey
February 10, 2009 - What's So Smart About Investing in the Smart Grid?
It makes no sense to throw $4.5 billion at electric power infrastructure
Ronald Bailey
February 6, 2009 - Obama's Green Snake Oil
The president continues to ignore the cost of his global warming plan.
Jacob Sullum
January 28, 2009 - President Obama's Fuel Economy Standard Follies
Politicians want you to pay more when you drive. They just won't admit it.
Ronald Bailey
January 27, 2009 - USDA Tries Pricing and Trading Environmental Benefits
Bringing ecosystem services out of the political realm and into the market would be welcome news
Skaidra Smith-Heisters
January 26, 2009 - Detroit Bets Its Future on Washington
Carmakers seek to please Congress instead of customers
Shikha Dalmia and Henry Payne
January 24, 2009 - No Biofuels Bailout
Farm energy pork wastes money and harms the environment
Ronald Bailey
January 13, 2009 - California Air Resources Board Passes Costly Plan During Economic Crisis
State can utilize pay-as-you-drive and pay-as-you-save programs for inexpensive environmental improvements
Skaidra Smith-Heisters
December 22, 2008 - Keep the 2009 Reauthorization Focused on Transportation
Be wary of greenhouse gas reduction proposals
Robert Poole
December 1, 2008 - Keep the 2009 Reauthorization Focused on Transportation
Be wary of greenhouse gas reduction proposals
Robert Poole
December 1, 2008 - President-elect Obama's Budget Problems
Cure the economy or tackle climate change
Shikha Dalmia
November 26, 2008 - Measure Q: The Wrong Train
Massively expensive plan to make miniscule reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
Skaidra Smith-Heisters
October 28, 2008 - Economy in the Balance
How the bailout is polluting our financial future
Anthony Randazzo
October 2, 2008 - California to Restrict Driving With Latest Global Warming Plan
State seeks to regulate where you can live so it can reduce your driving
Samuel Staley
August 26, 2008 - Patience Can Sometimes Pay
Why it might in certain circumstances make sense to postpone action on global warming
Shikha Dalmia
August 19, 2008 - A Carbon-Free Electricity System in 10 Years
Gore energy plan may signal the twilight of free economies
Samuel Staley
July 22, 2008 - Cap & Trade: Why It's Tax & Spend
Senate plan won't cool planet, but will raise taxes
Shikha Dalmia
June 2, 2008 - Ahnuld's Folly
NYers lucky to escape fake warming fix
Shikha Dalmia
December 26, 2007 - Environmental Timetables Built for Style, Not Substance
Cutting emissions, reducing use of foreign oil, using more renewable energy requires a lot more than just goals
Skaidra Smith-Heisters
June 12, 2007 - Hollywood: Do as I say, not as I do
Global warming strategy consists of asking others to sacrifice
Samuel Staley
March 14, 2007 - Much-Heralded Plan to Stop Global Warming Fails
Europe's carbon trading scheme flops, now what?
Shikha Dalmia
June 22, 2006 - Crichton's State of Fear
Book exposes faulty climate change arguments
Kenneth Green
January 19, 2005 - Kyoto Protocol Is Dead
Europeans isolated on climate change
Ronald Bailey
December 17, 2004 - Can We Avoid 'Dangerous' Climate Change?
Steep emissions reductions unlikely
Ronald Bailey
December 16, 2004 - Crichton's Chilling Tales
Review of State of Fear
Ronald Bailey
December 10, 2004 - False Claim That Global Warming Will Increase Smog Levels
Deceptive studies harm science's credibility
Joel Schwartz
August 4, 2004 - Pavley's Ploy May Carjack Motorists
Plan will hurt taxpayers, but won't dent global warming
Kenneth Green
July 5, 2002 - Warning: Eco-Posturing Ahead in CA
Are Californians responsible for global warming?
Kenneth Green
April 5, 2002 - National Academy of Sciences Raises More Climate Questions
Report acknowledges limitations of scientific understanding
Kenneth Green
June 7, 2001 - Major Media Mangle Global Warming Report
Reports ignore stated uncertainty
Kenneth Green
June 7, 2001 - IPCC Global Warming Report Fails to Deliver Sound Policy
Climate change certainty misrepresented
Kenneth Green
February 27, 2001 - Texas Enters Global Warming Fray
Carbon sequestration should be looked at
Kenneth Green
January 16, 2001 - Group's Summary Overheats Warming Threat
Rhetoric doesn't match data
Kenneth Green
November 27, 2000
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