Green Police

A glimpse of the future from Audi’s Superbowl ad: Hat tip: In The Agora.

Norman Borlaug, the Greatest Person Ever, has Died

Since he’s not a eccentric pop star, Norman Borlaug’s death is unlikely to be particularly newsworthy. Here’s a short video outlining his contributions to human wellbeing: PC has a nice round-up of obituaries, etc.

That Word Doesn’t Mean What You Think it Means…

The title of this press release from Living Streets Aotearoa – “Helping Kiwis Choose to Walk More Often” – nicely illustrates how seriously most public health advocates, environmentalists, and other do-gooders take the concept of choice. If you want to help someone make a choice, you could give them information or point out any flaws [...]

The War on Convenience

The U.N.’s Misanthrope in Chief  wants a global ban on plastic bags: Single-use plastic bags, a staple of American life, have got to go, the United Nations’ top environmental official said Monday. Although recycling bags is on the rise in the United States, an estimated 90 billion thin bags a year, most used to handle [...]

Bootleggers and Baptists: Climate Change Edition

I’ve been blogging about bootleggers and baptists a bit lately, so I should probably mention this excellent WSJ article on The Climate-Industrial Complex from Bjorn Lomborg. The partnership among self-interested businesses, grandstanding politicians and alarmist campaigners truly is an unholy alliance. The climate-industrial complex does not promote discussion on how to overcome this challenge in [...]

Asthma and the Limits of Public Choice

Jason Kuznicki wonders why politics has robbed him of an effective asthma treatment: My old CFC albuterol inhaler is much more effective than my new non-CFC inhaler. The medicine is the same, but the delivery system is awful. I’m dreading the day that my old inhaler runs out. Yes, I follow the directions on the new [...]

Somebody Think of the Children!

Apparently, one third of American kids think the environmental apocalypse will destroy Earth by the time they grow up, and more than half think our evil, consumerist ways will make the planet a rather unpleasant place to live. I normally think of environmentalism as a feel-good pastime, occasionally resulting in bad policies that make us [...]

Quote of the Day: Greatest Person in History Edition

If people want to believe that the organic food has better nutritive value, it’s up to them to make that foolish decision. But there’s absolutely no research that shows that organic foods provide better nutrition. As far as plants are concerned, they can’t tell whether that nitrate ion comes from artificial chemicals or from decomposed [...]

Quote of the Day: Climate Alarmism Edition

From Will Wilkinson: Cheap energy is a main source of prosperity. The effort to make the cheapest sources of energy more expensive is, in effect, an effort to ensure that more people are made to suffer longer in poverty. Energy Secretary Stephen Chu’s openness to using tarrifs against countries like China as a “weapon” in the effort [...]

Hyperbole with which I Broadly Agree

From Save the Humans:  Environmentalists hate children and want them restricted to two per family, or less. Children are the symbol of the future pillaging of the planet by humans, and the fewer of them exist the better. So much of the economy revolves around children (schools, entertainment, transport, activities, food). Reducing the number of children is [...]