Berkeley – The growth in China's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is far outpacing previous estimates, making the goal of stabilizing atmospheric greenhouse gases even more difficult, according to a new analysis by economists at the University of California, Berkeley, and UC San Diego.
2008
On Friday, the LA Times reported that Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has made a political career of fighting climate change, commutes by jet to his office in Sacramento.
Of course, that’s not very climate-conscious of the governor.
According to figures compiled by the Helium Report, the governor's Gulfstream jet does nearly as much damage to the environment in one hour as a small car does in a year, according, an online publication for buyers of luxury items.
If Schwarzenegger keeps this up, he soon might match Al Gore’s gigantic carbon footprint.
Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said recently that he hopes to have a draft cap-and-trade bill out for comment by mid-April, according to a Greenwire story by Darren Samuelsohn. This will begin what I expect will be a lengthy period of pushing and shoving by energy producers, industrial energy users, and environmental pressure groups over who the winners and losers are going to be. Dingell and Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), Chairman of the committee’s Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee, will be under enormous pressures from all these special interests. The only group that won’t have much clout are the consumers who will end up paying more for energy and most other goods and services if rationing policies are enacted. On the Senate side, the Democratic leadership is aiming at a vote in May or June on the Lieberman-Warner cap-and-trade bill. The American Environment Coalition is circulating a joint letter opposing Lieberman-Warner for signatures.
President Bush re-iterated his position in the new round of international negotiations on an agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expires at the end of 2012. According to a story by Jon Ward in the Washington Times, Bush said, “In order for there to be effective international agreements, these agreements must include solid commitments from every major economy, and no country should get a free ride.” This means that the United States is relying on China and India to save us from energy rationing policies. Although this shows a lack of leadership that the U. S. should be providing, the good news is that India and China look solid. According to Barun Mitra, the director of the Liberty Institute (a fellow member of the Cooler Heads Coalition) in India, who was visiting Washington today after attending the big Heartland Institute (a fellow member of the Cooler Heads Coalition) global warming conference in New York City, access to energy is the top issue in Indian politics. All the major parties support dramatic increases in energy production. As Barun said, the public would quickly turn against any future government that tried to limit energy use.
If I may peek outside the Beltway for a moment, I thoroughly enjoyed Heartland’s conference and judge it a great success. It got some negative press in the establishment media, but the event itself was heartening and energizing.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who once joked that Sacramento was "death," apparently doesn't want to spend many nights in the graveyard.
As the Los Angeles Times reported last week, the governor has been spending nearly every night in his Brentwood mansion, shuttling between Sacramento and Southern California in his private jet.
CEI's commercial shows that many in the Third World – particularly those in Africa – are literally dying due to a lack of adequate power, and the catastrophe that could result from imposing anti-global warming emissions regulations on power generation in these areas. Forcing these people to go without would be especially galling considering Gore and his ilk are living opulent lifestyles.
In question is an advertising campaign that begins today by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). The broadcast spot says Mr. Gore's Tennessee residence uses 20 times more energy than the average American household — a claim based on damning information released last year by the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, which examined Mr. Gore's utility bills.
Schwarzenegger has eschewed living in Sacramento, preferring his Brentwood mansion and traveling back and forth in his private jet. Some question his concern for the environment. Like many of the Californians he represents, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger now spends more than three hours commuting because he lives so far from the office. But his ride is a private jet.
Just how pervasive the bias at most news outlets is in favour of climate alarmism — and how little interest most outlets have in reporting any research that diverges from the alarmist orthodoxy — can be seen in a Washington Post story on the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), announced last week in New York.
Funny how the biggest beneficiaries of combustion often like to get behind laws that will hinder the rest of society, but them–not so much. NASCAR driver Leilani Munter has decided that you should be subject to the Climate Security Act, a sweeping piece of legislation, dissected here, that will help the developing world stay poor in the bargain. As for another beneficiary of the energy economy, be sure to check out CEI’s National Press Club event tomorrow contrasting Al Gore’s lifestyle with the way he wants others to live.
California deregulated its electricity industry in 1998, and shortly afterward the lights went out. Apparently, regulators hadn't realized how easy it would be for unscrupulous traders such as Enron to manipulate the state's power market once it was open to competition; the results were rolling blackouts and skyrocketing electricity charges. Californians are for all this — in many areas, power bills are inflated with extra fees to cover bonds and other expenses incurred during the disastrous experiment.
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