Natural & Physical Sciences: Environmental Studies 
Recommended
Event: A Darker Shade of Green
"Green" policies are often advertised as good for the environment and cost-efficient; we are bringing together a few scholars who will address these claims economically and scientifically, painting a picture that shows otherwise. This event will focus on the increasing push by the federal government to go "green," and how such policies on energy and environment negatively impacts society, especially young people. Please join us!
Come to Cato, or watch the event online here: http://www.cato.org/events/100723sf.html
Offshore Drilling, Still Worth the Risk
Reason science correspondent Ronald Bailey discusses the BP oil spill currently impacting the southern coast of the U.S. and presents a cost/benefit analysis to determine if the U.S. should pursue additional off-shore oil drilling. He warns that many, on both sides of the issue, blow this type of event out of proportion, saying "in deciding whether or not to continue offshore exploration for oil and gas, a calm quantitative approach makes more sense.” In a preliminary analysis of research studies, Bailey finds that opening additional off-shore drilling options, could amount to $323-$967 billion of total benefit, adjusting for both price fluctuations and environmental risk. “Progress is a trial and error process, and increasing safety results from learning how to make better trade-offs over time between risks.”
Endangered Findings: the Basis for EPA Intervention may have gone Extinct
The next wave of government intervention into our private lives is expected to come in the form of "environmental" regulations. Cato scholar Pat Michaels describes how the Environmental Protection Agency has been anticipating the opportunity to "dictate how and how much we can drive, fly, consume, or make." However, the precedent for such regulations is based on reports that have had their accuracy questioned over the past year. Michaels presents multiple published findings and journals that document substantial discrepancies with the IPCC report that the EPA is using. The EPA appears to have lost its scientific footing for regulating the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans. However, that does not mean they are not going to try.
Student Forum: Climate Fantasies and Realities
Cato On Campus and the DC Forum for Freedom partner to bring a student forum to the Cato Institute on January 22, 2010 at 4pm. Pat Michaels, resident climatologist and scholar at Cato, will present on the topic of global warming, Climategate, and his 30+ years in the scientific research community. Please join us for an engaging presentation, discussion, and reception to follow. (Pat Michaels was prominent in the Climategate e-mails hijacked from the University of East Anglia in late 2009, cited in one e-mail as someone one scientist wanted to "beat the crap out of.”)
If you cannot attend the event in person, please watch the event online and participate by submitting your questions via the live online discussion board, here.
A Reason To Be Skeptical: Lessons of ClimateGate
Reason's David Harsanyi addresses the recent disturbance in the force of the Climate Change community, following the publishing of hacked e-mails between some of the most vocal global warming alarmists. Harsanyi lists the offences that have thus far been exposed, and says that skeptics have a certain duty to call controversial and debatable "settled facts" into question. “True believers will question your intelligence, your sanity and your intentions,” he notes, but “The uglier the names get, the more anger you see, the more that science-challenged politicians push invasive legislation, the more skeptics will join you.” And in the process, rational thinking may emerge.
Deafening Silence on Real Climate Change
Cato climate scholar Pat Michaels asks, 'where have all the scientists gone?' Michaels cites that a scientific article in a recent refereed journal, sponsored by NASA, has found that Antarctic ice has experienced the least seasonal melting in decades. The problem is, no one has reported on the study. "NASA seems to beat the drum only when the news on global warming is bad, and remains mute when it is good," writes Michaels He concludes that although NASA has not been equitable, journalists can be let off the hook either.
The bias in the climate change debate has also hit Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, authors of SuperFreakonomics. They include a chapter on climate change in their new book, which has been met with personal insults rather than debates on their findings, reports John Stossel here.
Free Trade Is a Boon to the Environment
Cato scholar Sallie James responds to the growing divide between advancing environmental proposals and increasing protectionist policies. Many countries claim to be striving for stronger environmental agreements while enacting their own protectionist measures. James counters that, "Indeed, because trade leads to wealth, and wealth to an increased desire and ability to protect the environment, the two are complementary. Nonetheless, many G-20 leaders are doing their best to set them up as being inalterably opposed."
The Dog Ate Global Warming
Cato scholar Pat Michaels explains that there may be something fishy about the data used in the climate change debate. He demonstrates that the temperature data used in penning legislation and regulations, to a large extent, is hidden or non-existent. Those responsible for the data sets used by government agencies have stated, "we were not able to keep the multiple sources for some sites, only the station series after adjustment." Michaels concludes that if the data don't exist, the science is faulty, and therefore any policy resting on such so-called "science" is bunk.
Cap-and-Trade is Dead, But Alive
Cato scholar Pat Michaels presents the idea that Obama and Congress Democrats can toss out the Waxman/Markey Cap-and-Trade bill and still get what they want. "Thanks to the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency (2007), the EPA has authority to issue its own regulations on carbon dioxide," says Michaels, adding that "the president has really had the power to enact its core components on his own all along." Thinking strategically, by using Obama to enact (rather than pass) regulations, those officials seeking re-election can get the results they want while clinging to the anonymity that they need to keep their seats.
Cato Trade Policy Analyst Sallie James lays out the international and business implications of cap-and-trade policies in a podcast, posted here. James states that political figures have “not thought through the implications of what they’re proposing,” concluding that the trade provisions not only are ineffective, they are going to be harmful.
Fuel Standards Are Killing GM
Cato scholar Alan Reynolds in The Wall Street Journal writes, in a compelling and timely manner, that "General Motors is likely to become profitable only if it is allowed to specialize in what it does best — namely, midsize and large sedans, sports cars, pickup trucks and SUVs. The company can't possibly afford to scrap billions of dollars of equipment used to produce its best vehicles simply to please politicians who would rather see GM start from scratch, wasting more taxpayer money on "retooling" to produce unwanted and unprofitable subcompacts and electric cars. The average mileage of GM's future cars won't matter if nobody buys them."
Global Warming Debate Heating Up
Forecasting scholars Dr. Kesten C. Green and Dr. J. Scott Armstrong take on MIT's recent Global Warming report: "Policymakers and the public should be made aware that the forecasts from the MIT modellers, as well as those used by the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change], are merely the opinions of some scientists and computer modellers. ...The forecasting procedures were not valid and there is no reason for policymakers to take their forecasts seriously."
Happy Earth Day? Thank Capitalism
By Jerry Taylor: "It is businessmen — not bureaucrats or environmental activists — who deserve most of the credit for the environmental gains over the past century and who represent the best hope for a Greener tomorrow"
Patrick Michaels Speaks at Dartmouth
Patrick Michaels, Senior Fellow a the Cato Institute, spoke at Dartmouth College on Tuesday, February 23rd, to a packed auditorium where he argued that "The discussion surrounding global warming has become wildly extreme... You either believe it's the end of the world unless we do something about it right now, or you're a denier." Check out the story in The Dartmouth
January Op-Eds of the Month
Congratulations to Jonathan Slemrod and Charles Johnson for winning the Cato on Campus Op-Eds of the Month! Covering environmentalism and free speech on campus, their op-eds will now be considered for the Op-Ed of the Year and a full scholarship to Cato University.
December Op-Ed Winners
Congratulations to the first winners of the Cato on Campus Op-Ed Contest: Mytheos Holt and Simon Franěk! Their op-eds, both citing Patrick Michaels and dealing with environmental policy, tied for the December 2008 Cato on Campus Op-Ed Contest.
Keeping Our Cool: What to do About Global Warming
By Jim Manzi: "The loss of economic and technological development that would be required to eliminate literally all theorized climate change risk would cripple our ability to deal with virtually every other foreseeable and unforeseeable risk, not to mention our ability to lead productive and interesting lives in the meantime."
The Grand Exaggerator
By Patrick Michaels: "OK, it's pretty much standard rhetoric in Washington to say that if you don't do as I say, there will be massive consequences. But to say, as Gore recently did: 'The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk;' and: 'The future of human civilization is at stake' — that's a bit much, even for the most faded and jaded political junkie."
Fuel vs. Food
By Indur M. Goklany: "In recent years, we've heard that climate change could be catastrophic for nature and humanity. But it's becoming increasingly evident that over the next few decades, climate-change policies could prove even more catastrophic."
The Biofuel Brew Ha-Ha
By Peter Suderman: Reason contributor Peter Suderman writes that the biofuels craze is boosting the price of beer, because farmers are shifting away from barley to biofuel crops made more lucrative by mandates and subsidies.
The Ultimate Scholar
By Donald J. Boudreaux: "Last Friday, Feb. 8, marked the 10th anniversary of the death of the great economist Julian Simon. Although he never received the professional or popular acclaim of economists such as Milton Friedman, Paul Samuelson or F.A. Hayek, Simon's insights and work rank with those of history's greatest social scientists."
Global Warming: Risks and Consequences
"Last fall, at the Reason in DC conference, one of the most strongly attended and memorable panels was titled "Climate Change: Risks and Consequences" and featured Lynne Kiesling, a senior lecturer in economics at Northwestern University, proprietor of the blog Knowledge Problem, and an expert in retail electricity markets; Ronald Bailey, reason's longtime science correspondent and author of, among other books, Liberation Biology: The Moral and Scientific Case for the Biotech Revolution and ECOSCAM: The False Prophets of Environmental Apocalypse; and Fred L. Smith, Jr., the founder and president of Competitive Enterprise Institute."
Unintended Consequences
By Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt: "But with a government that is regularly begged for relief — these days, from mortgage woes, health-care costs and tax burdens — and with every presidential hopeful making daily promises to address these woes, it might be worth encouraging the winning candidate to think twice (or even 8 or 10 times) before rushing off to do good. Because if there is any law more powerful than the ones constructed in a place like Washington, it is the law of unintended consequences."
In 2008, a 100 Percent Chance of Alarm
By John Tierney: "Today’s interpreters of the weather are what social scientists call availability entrepreneurs: the activists, journalists and publicity-savvy scientists who selectively monitor the globe looking for newsworthy evidence of a new form of sinfulness, burning fossil fuels."
Not So Hot
By Patrick J. Michaels: "If a scientific paper appeared in a major journal saying that the planet has warmed twice as much as previously thought, that would be front-page news in every major paper around the planet. But what would happen if a paper was published demonstrating that the planet may have warmed up only half as much as previously thought?"
The Great Global Warming Swindle
"The most disturbing part of the movie, and what makes it worth spending the hour-plus to watch it, is the way it portrays the momentum of the global warming crusade. When you have lots and lots of people heavily invested in a point of view, how can they possibly change?" - Arnold Kling
35 Inconvenient Truths
We now itemize 35 of the scientific errors and exaggerations in Al Gore’s movie. The first nine were listed by the judge in the High Court in London in October 2007 as being “errors.” The remaining 26 errors are just as inaccurate or exaggerated as the nine spelt out by the judge, who made it plain during the proceedings that the Court had not had time to consider more than these few errors. The judge found these errors serious enough to require the UK Government to pay substantial costs to the plaintiff.
The Tragedy of the Commons and the Implications for Environmental Regulation
Bruce Yandle of Clemson University and George Mason University's Mercatus Center looks at the tragedy of the commons and the various ways that people have avoided the overuse of resources that are held in common.
Green Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
By Roger Bate: "There is little more annoying for a policy analyst than when two types of wrong-headedness conspire to undermine his case. Such is the case for policies driven by the pursuit of a pesticide free -- or at least pesticide diminished -- future, which will cause an increase in insect-borne disease. "
Our Priorities for Saving the World
By Bjorn Lomburg : "Given $50 billion to spend, which would you solve first, AIDS or global warming? Danish political scientist Bjorn Lomborg put this question to economists and students around the world, and the answers they came up with may surprise you. Ranking our toughest problems not on any moral scale but simply by how effectively they can be solved, Lomborg and his colleagues demand we take a fresh look at doing good."
Chill Out
By Bjorn Lomborg: "The discussion about climate change has turned into a nasty dustup, with one side arguing that we're headed for catastrophe and the other maintaining that it's all a hoax. I say that neither is right. It's wrong to deny the obvious: The Earth is warming, and we're causing it. But that's not the whole story, and predictions of impending disaster just don't stack up."
Gore's Noble Challenge
By Patrick J. Michaels: "Where else -- except perhaps via the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, which Gore negotiated -- can someone accomplish so little while spending so much? But, to get there, or at least to the Demo nomination, Gore's going to have to do something he has assiduously avoided: debate."
The Double Standard in Environmental Science
By Stanley W. Trimble: "My experience suggested to me that ideology, not science, had established a significant grip on the top scientific press. This article attempts to portray the emotionalism, exaggeration, and even ideological viciousness — qualities that to me define extremism — that have invaded the field of environmental science."
Global Warming: No Urgent Danger; No Quick Fix
"Fact: The average surface temperature of the Earth is about 0.8 C warmer than it was in 1900, and human beings have something to do with it. But does that portend an unmitigated disaster? Can we do anything meaningful about it at this time? And if we can't, what should or can we do in the future?"
Taming the Hurricane
"Anyone concerned about climate change should take a lesson from Hurricane Dean. Even if storms like this become more frequent in the future, people will adapt and survive if they have the financial resources. How silly it seems to take those resources away in futile attempts to "stop global warming""
Is the Sky Really Falling? A Review of Recent Global Warming Scare Stories
By Patrick J. Michaels: "Reports of rapid disintegration of Greenland’s ice ignore the fact that the region was warmer than it is now for several decades in the early 20th century, before humans could have had much influence on climate."
The Common Law: How it protects the environment
"The purpose of this PERC Policy Series paper is to show, by examining specific cases in American and English history, that strong legal traditions enabled ordinary citizens to protect their air, land, and water, often against politically potent parties."
A Better Way to Protect Endangered Species
Laura E. Huggins argues that for wildlife conservation to be successful, negative restrictions on landowners must be replaced with positive incentives.