Money is a powerful incentive. When it comes to global warming, governments all over the world have created policies that intend to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but have led to fraud, scams, black markets, and increased emissions. Mark Schapiro of Reuters reports on the unintended consequences of European companies offsetting their carbon dioxide emissions by paying the Chinese to destroy a much more potent contributor to warming: In order to offset their own greenhouse gases, companies and utilities in Europe that are subject to the emission limits of the Kyoto …
The New York Times reports today: In 2002 Responsible Travel became one of the first travel companies to offer customers the option of buying so-called carbon offsets to counter the planet-warming emissions generated by their airline flights. But last month Responsible Travel canceled the program, saying that while it might help travelers feel virtuous, it was not helping to reduce global emissions. In fact, company officials said, it might even encourage some people to travel or consume more. “The carbon offset has become this magic pill, a kind of get-out-of-jail-free …
Laurie Williams and Allan Zabel, two lawyers currently working at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), spoke out against cap and trade in their Washington Post column. Zabel has first hand experience with cap and trade, overseeing California’s cap and trade and offsets programs. The article is full of good reasons why a cap and trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is a bad idea. They also highlight how it differs substantially from the acid rain cap and trade plan, which proponents tout as a reason to cap and trade …
Here in Washington, people are discussing two things: Jim Zorn’s job security as the Washington Redskins’ head coach and health care, in that order. But there’s a $3.6 trillion gas tax on the table that already passed the House and is making its way through the Senate, and cap and trade has Americans all over the country concerned. The $3.6 trillion gas tax figure, which includes gasoline and diesel gas, comes from a new report from Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Kit Bond (R-MO) on the effects of climate …
“There’s a point at which you’ve got to ask yourself, what are we doing here? What’s the point?” That’s Elaine Kamarck, a former Clinton administration official and advisor to then-Vice President Gore, and she’s talking about the Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill. In order to garner enough votes to pass the House of Representatives, policymakers made promises that have groups like Greenpeace questioning the environmental effectiveness of the bill. One of the most contentious provisions in the bill is the use of carbon offsets to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Offsets …
Farming is very energy-intensive. Farmers use a lot of electricity, a lot of diesel fuel, and a lot of natural gas-derived chemicals and fertilizers to grow crops and maintain their farm. So it shouldn’t be surprising a cap and trade program that artificially drives up the cost of energy will unfavorably affect farmers. What may be surprising is how unfavorable these effects are, causing expected farm income (or the amount left over after paying all expenses) to drop $8 billion in 2012, $25 billion in 2024, and over $50 billion …
If former presidential candidate Ralph Nader, the greenest of all the greens, the man who played an integral role in starting the Environmental Protection Agency and passing the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, opposes cap and trade, it’s probably not a good idea. Here’s what Nader told the New York Times concerning cap and trade: I mean, it’s not going to work. It’s too complex. It’s too easily manipulated politically. Right now, they’re having a battle over whether they can even auction the credits off for money. The industry …
Literally: “Anti-Mafia magistrates in Sicily have opened a sweeping investigation into the wind power sector where local officials, entrepreneurs and crime gangs are suspected of collusion in the construction of lucrative wind farms before their eventual sale to multinational companies. Italian and EU subsidies for the building of wind farms and the world’s highest guaranteed rates, ($240 per kwh), for the electricity they produce have turned southern Italy into a highly attractive market exploited by organised crime. Prosecutors suspect the hand of the Mafia in fixing permits and building wind …
The stock market is down, the credit market is frozen, the real estate market is tanking … the end is near! Despite all these bad economic signs, one market, according to The Washington Post, is actually doing quite well: the carbon offset market. Never mind that just about every neutral study done on on the carbon offset market has revealed it to be an absolute fraud. The wealthy secular left demand to keep both their jet setting lifestyles and the belief that unchecked carbon emissions are about to destroy the …
The Democratic National Convention in Denver endeavored to be “the most environmentally sustainable political convention in modern American history,” according to the convention’s Director of Greening (really) Andrea Robinson. But how much green will all that green end up costing the rest of us? From recycled tote bags and name tags, to biodegradable balloons, to requirements for organic and locally grown menu items, to hotel key cards made from “sustainably harvested wood,” it was hard for delegates to go through each day without using numerous eco-friendly items. Most pervasive of …
