Re: A National Energy/Recycling Plan (Long) Message #6 Posted by Gene Wright on 9 July 2005, 4:48 p.m., in response to message #5 by Tony
IMO, Kyoto is a fraud.
Even if all the countries signed onto it, projections call for a 0.5 degree reduction from what the temperature would be in 100 years ANYWAY.
All that for $150 billion a year for 100 years. Wow. That's a lot of money.
How about $$ to get rid of malaria? How about $$ to get rid of AIDS?
My point is really this: Is spending $150 billion x 100 the best use of that money over the next 100 years?
The USA decided no.
Europe, who by and large signed up for Kyoto is nowhere near meeting the targets either.
And, it might do well to read this book:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0521010683/qid=1120941976
The Skeptical Environmentalist by Bjorn Lomborg
Quote: "This is one of the most valuable books on public policy - not merely on environmental policy - to have been written for the intelligent general reader in the past ten years. The Skeptical Environmentalist is a triumph." The Economist "...a superbly documented and readable book." Wall Street Journal "...it is a surprise to meet someone who calls himself an environmentalist but who asserts that things are getting better....Strange to say, the author of this happy thesis is not a steely-eyed economist at a conservative Washington think tank but a vegetarian, backpack-toting academic who was a member of Greenpeace for four years....The primary target of the books, a substantial work of analysis with almost 3.000 footnotes, are statements made by environemtal organizations like the Worldwatch Institute, the World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace. He refers to the persistently gloomy fate from these groups as the Litany, a collection of statements that he argues are exaggerations or outright myths." Science of the Times/New York Times "The Skeptical Environmentalist should be read by every environmentalist, so that the appalling errors of fact the environmental movement has made in the past are not repeated. A brilliant and powerful book." Matt Ridley, Author of Genome "Lomborg pulls off the remarkable feat of welding the techno-optimism of the Internet age with a lefty's concern for the fate of the planet." Rolling Stone "Bjørn Lomborg is an outstanding representative of the "new breed" of political scientists--mathematically-skilled and computer-adept. In this book he shows himself also to be a hardheaded, empirically oriented analyst. Surveying a vast amount of data and taking account of a wide range of more and less informed opinion about environmental threats facing the planet, he comes to a balanced assessment of which ones are real and which are over-hyped. In vigorous and what needs not to be done about those turning out to be pseudo-problems." Professor Jack Hirshleifer, Department of Economics, UCLA "The Skeptical Environmentalist should be read by every environmentalist, so that the appalling errors of fact the environmental movement has made in the past are not repeated. A brilliant and powerful book." Matt Ridley, Author of Genome "When Lomborg concludes that '...the loss of the world's rainforests, of fertile agricultural land, the ozone layer and of the climate balance are terrible...' I agree. But we also need debate, and this book provides us with that in generous amounts, incl 2428 footnotes. If you, like I do, belong to the people who dare to think the world is making some progress, but always with mistakes to be corrected, this book makes important reading." Professor Lars Kristoferson, Secretary General, WWF Sweden "Lomborg's book sheds needed light on the real state of the world. I recommend it to anyone interested in our global environment...the book is a credible attempt at refuting many of the more outrageous environmentalist claims--a point of view that is seldom heard. The Skeptical Environmentalist is the most valuable book available in many years on public policy in general, not only environmental policy in particular. It should be required reading for all legislators, government bureaucrats and corporate executives who preside over the ever-increasing array of environmental regulations and policies." Geotimes "Lomborg is right on his points, that his critique of much green activism and its reporting in the media is just, and, above all, that where there is room for disagreement, Mr Lomborg invites and facilitates discussion, rather than seeking to silence it." The Economist Feb 2002"
All for now.
Gene
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