On October 29th I posted this Tom Faranda’s Folly: Global Warming Update Update which is mostly a series of articles from the British press about the "Stern Report" – an apocalyptic view of the coming meltdown.
The Wall Street Journal had a sensible editorial Climate Non-conformity OpinionJournal – Featured Article with a link to one of their op eds de-bunking the Stern Report. Note the last paragraph in this excerpt from the editorial:
Unlike the Stern report and its patrons, those of us who take a skeptical approach to these doomsday climate scenarios aren’t trying to end the discussion. The Earth is warmer now than it was in the recent past, and this may be partly attributable to human behavior. But everything else–from how much warmer, to the extent of mankind’s contribution, to the cost of doing something about it–remains very much in dispute.
Some of the Stern review’s recommendations, such as carbon trading rights, are also worth debating. But most of its proposals are merely openings for government to expand its role in allocating investment, raising taxes and otherwise controlling economic decisions. Socialism was supposed to have died with the Soviet Union, but it is making a comeback under the guise of coping with global warming.
Meanwhile, there are far more urgent, and far less speculative, problems that we know how to solve with the right policies. That message may not get scary headlines, but it would improve the lives of more human beings around the world.
Here’s the link to the op ed, written by economist Bjorn Lomborg:
Stern Review: The dodgy numbers behindthe latest global warming scare OpinionJournal – Extra
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