Your Papers, Please

New at Reason: Will you soon need an emissions permit before you grill a burger? If you accidentally burn it will you need two permits? Ron Bailey gazes into the abyss.

Comments

[JDM]

"Under a C&C regime, high per capita emitting countries could purchase unused allocations from low per capita emitting countries."

Wait a minute, that sounds like some wacky leftist redistribution scheme. This is just about the science, right? No one is trying to use environmental fear mongering to push an agenda here, are they?

[Jean Bart]

JDM,

Its emissions trading; the US uses it for some emissions (those that cause chemical smog for example).

[Fred]

In the latest dispute at the Kyoto talks in Milan, Saudi Arabia and other OPEC oil producers argued that a Special Climate Change Fund should be used partly to compensate them if consumers shift to clean energy like wind or solar power.

Everyone else is on the welfare gravy train. Why shouldn't they get their share, right?

Kyoto is now merely a great excuse for well connected journalists and advocacy types to hang out on paid vacations in really nice places like Milan.

(Hey, Ron how can we get a gig like that?)

[JDM]

Between individuals or corporations within a single country it's just emissions trading. Between nations, it is something considerably more leftist.

[Rick Barton]

There's not even any good science to indicate that a significant amount of global warming is to do to human activity. Yet, we have all this proposed coercion. It's a good reason to keep the US out of any international agreements. Liberty and prosperity are at risk.

[JDM]

"is it true that we are coming out of an ice age"

We are actually in a 50-70 million year cooling trend. The last 3 million years of which have seen the glaciers come and go about 20 times. The warm periods between the mini ice ages have lasted about 10,000 years, which is about how long the current one has been going. The larger atmospheric picture is thought to have more to do with plate tectonics than anything else.

[Douglas Fletcher]

Generally, I prefer grilling my burgers with water buffalo dung.

[Jason Ligon]

I was amused to hear a rep from the Pew (Pugh? Pee-yew?) Foundation admit that Kyoto was always a laughably ineffective tool to combat global climate change, and that techology is our only real hope. Funny how some folks can demand trillions of dollars for something they know won't work, raise hell in the papers when we refuse to play ball, then shrug it off.

Here's to the demise of the Assault Weapons Ban of climate treaties.

[R C Dean]

If Global Warming is occurring, some nations could be irreperably harmed (as in wiped off the planet)

Or not. During the medieval climate optimum (a warm period that comparable to the forecasts of the global warmers), sea levels were not appreciably higher than they are now. If the seas didn't rise last time it warmed up, why should they now?

The reason, apparently, is that as the atmosphere warms, it draws moisture from the oceans and deposits it as snow at the poles. Clever, no?

[OL]

You can have my barbecue sauce when you pry it out of my cold, dead hand.

[Douglas Fletcher]

"We are actually in a 50-70 million year cooling trend. The last 3 million years of which have seen the glaciers come and go about 20 times. The warm periods between the mini ice ages have lasted about 10,000 years, which is about how long the current one has been going. The larger atmospheric picture is thought to have more to do with plate tectonics than anything else."

You're making it really complicated planning my budget for air conditioning next summer.

[Andy]

The question "Will you soon need an emissions permit before you grill a burger?" presumes a fact not in evidence (well, in the future, anyway) - that being that we will actually have (meat) burgers to cook on a grill.

[yelowd]

Just curious, is it true that we are coming out of an ice age (that isn't any part of our doing)? Wouldn't this mean that the global warming thing is a) unstoppable and b)not all our fault.

Also- did anyone see the report that said that the air quality of Paris has not changed since the late 1890's or so. Jean Barte/ Merovingian- do you know about this?

[Jean Bart]

Fred,

That's been a demand for sometime as I recall; at least by the Saudis.

Rick Barton,

If Global Warming is occurring, some nations could be irreperably harmed (as in wiped off the planet); I am thinking specifically of the small-island states. From their perspective one can see why the threat of said potential warming may seem a little higher than say in the Czech Republic or Iowa.

[Rowe Nina]

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DATE: 05/21/2004 06:12:17
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