The rhetoric of climate alarmism
14 Aug 2015 1 Comment
in environmental economics, global warming Tags: climate alarmism, expressive voting, rational irrationality
Australia announces its futile carbon emissions target
12 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, environmental economics, global warming, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: Australia, China, climate alarmism, climate change treaties, free-riders, game theory, global warming, international free riders, international public goods, public goods
The climate alarmists need to lift their game on their scaremongering
11 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, environmental economics, global warming, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: climate alarmism, doomsday prophecies, global warming, scaremongering, voter demographics
@GreenpeaceNZ is the zenith of the Anti-science Left in New Zealand
09 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, environmental economics, environmentalism, health economics, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: antiscience left, expressive voting, GMOs, green rent seeking, Greenpeace, Left-wing hypocrisy, precautionary principle, rational ignorance, rational irrationality
US researchers: the idea that global warming has slowed is "no longer valid" grnpc.org/IgDMn via @BBCWorld http://t.co/bIDhaWPV3r—
(@Greenpeace) June 05, 2015
Brace yourself. Global warming is 'set to speed up to rates not seen for 1,000 years.' bit.ly/1x8TnKd http://t.co/pLTprLEiIm—
Greenpeace USA (@greenpeaceusa) March 09, 2015
Are we doomed? Global temperatures hit critical point, scientists warn. bit.ly/1DWkJq7 via @EcoWatch http://t.co/VRT7DH3stN—
Greenpeace USA (@greenpeaceusa) August 01, 2015
Analysing environmental benefits from driving electric vehicles
09 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: coal power, electric cars, green rent seeking, hydroelectric power, nuclear energy, nuclear power, offsetting behaviour, The fatal conceit, The pretense to knowledge, unintended consequences

- The benefit is large and positive in many places in the west because the western electricity grid is relatively clean – primarily a mix of hydro, nuclear, and natural gas.
- The benefit is large and negative in many places in the east because the eastern electricity grid primarily relies more heavily on coal and natural gas.
via Economist’s View.
@NZGreens and co. must face an inconvenient truth about global poverty
09 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in development economics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, growth disasters, growth miracles, politics - New Zealand Tags: expressive voting, extreme poverty, global poverty, rational irrationality, The Great Escape, The Great Fact
The case for organic farming
08 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, environmental economics, health economics, industrial organisation, survivor principle Tags: agricultural economics, cranks, green rent seeking, organic farming, quackery
Which countries devote the most land to organic #agriculture? wef.ch/1P42qpv http://t.co/q1YstjyrSu—
World Economic Forum (@wef) August 05, 2015
Call off the bee-pocalypse: U.S. honeybee colonies hit a 20-year high
07 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in environmental economics Tags: agricultural economics, bees, green scaremongering
Climate change that is worth worrying about
05 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in economic history, environmental economics, global warming Tags: global cooling, global warming, ice ages, Little ice age
Europe during Weichselian- & Würm-Glaciation period (which ended 11,700 years ago). http://t.co/Sx58qdIEAA—
Amazing Maps™ (@amazingmap) August 03, 2015
Why Obama’s Climate-Change Plan Is Hopeless Without China
05 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in environmental economics, global warming, politics - USA Tags: China, climate treaties, global warming
Do vaccines work?
04 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economic history, environmental economics, health economics Tags: anti-vaccination movement, antiscience left, conjecture and refutation, vaccinations, vaccines
Beautiful charts by WSJ on history of vaccines and diseases:
graphics.wsj.com/infectious-dis… http://t.co/MWXr8nPWie—
Neil Halloran (@neilhalloran) February 24, 2015
What difference did the Kyoto protocol make and that’s before you consider 3rd World development
04 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, growth miracles, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: climate alarmism clock, climate treaties, expressive voting, free-riders, Kyoto Protocol, rational ignorance, rational irrationality
The economics of trophy hunting
03 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, environmental economics, law and economics, property rights Tags: Africa, antimarket bias, conservation, economics of conservation, endangered species, expressive voting, offsetting behaviour, rational irrationality, The fatal conceit, The pretence to knowledge, uninte
Would the reckless maritime protests of @Greenpeace be tolerated on land?
01 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, environmental economics, environmentalism, law and economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, property rights, Rawls and Nozick, transport economics Tags: Greenpeace, John Rawls, peaceful protest
Were the Greenpeace runabouts observing maritime safety rules such as avoiding collisions and giving way? Any protester that behaved like that in a car would be immediately arrested and charged.
Why it is tolerated in the high seas is beyond me when it would never be tolerated on the road. No one would pretend reckless driving was peaceful protest. Is it okay to behave recklessly in a boat? No one would accept that in a car on land.
Central to the notion of peaceful protest is fidelity to democracy and the rule of law. The idea is not to impose your will upon others, but to persuade the majority to reconsider their position by showing the passionate extent to which you disagree with them and honestly believe they are mistaken.
The civil disobedient is attempting to appeal to the “sense of justice” of the majority and a willingness to accept arrest is proof of the integrity of the act says Rawls:
…any interference with the civil liberties of others tends to obscure the civilly disobedient quality of one’s act.
Rawls argues that the use or threat of violence is incompatible with a reasoned appeal to fellow citizens to move them to change a law. The actions are not a means of coercing or frightening others into conforming to one’s wishes. That is a breach of the principles of a just society.






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