Global Warming: Risks and Consequences
Here's video from one of the great panels from last fall's Reason in DC conference: reason science correspondent Ron Bailey, Competitive Enterprise Institute president Fred L. Smith, Jr., and Knowledge Problem blogger and Northwestern economist Lynne Kiesling duking it out over free-market-friendly approaches to remediating the effects of global warming.
Few topics generate more heat than global warming and possible policy solutions to increases in the average global temperatures. Indeed, the options bandied about range from doing nothing to applying planet-wide restrictions on all aspects of energy consumption and technology.
While Nobel Prize winner and former Vice President Al Gore and many others favor the latter category of solutions, there are diverse and wide-ranging ideas that incorporate markets, new technologies, and an appreciation for economic growth as the best way not only to help the poor in the developing world but to deal with any issues posed by global warming.
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.
What follows here is full video of the Reason in DC panel, which was moderated by reason editor in chief Matt Welch (then with The Los Angeles Times). The video, roughly 40 minutes total, is split into four sections. Each speaker talked for roughly eight minutes; those presentations were followed by a spirited question-and-answer period with the audience–and with fellow panelists.
Part One: Introduction by Matt Welch and comments by Lynne Kiesling: Part Two: Comments by Ronald Bailey: Part Three: Comments by Fred L. Smith, Jr.: Part Four: Question-and-Answer Period: