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If the U.S. could get happier and poorer, would it?

Here's a quick question for you.

Assume for the sake of argument that we had some kind of reliable way of measuring happiness (defined however you like).

If we could cut our GDP in half but double the level of national happiness, should we do it?

Would we?

How a phony petition attacking global warming science gained a life of its own

The following is a guest essay by John Tirman, Executive Director of MIT's Center for International Studies.

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Recently I have encountered the counterattack on climate-change science, and it is a sobering experience.

When I was giving a talk at a book store on Manhattan's Upper West Side late last month, a young man began to pester me with hostile questions. My book, 100 Ways America is Screwing Up the World, has "Altering the Earth" listed at No. 1, a chapter that briefly tours the science and politics of climate change. The young man (among other obstreperous comments) upbraided me for saying there was scientific consensus on climate change, telling the audience that he had a petition signed by 17,000 scientists denying the threat of global warming.

It was the first I had heard of such a petition, but in the days to come I noticed emails from people I'd never heard of on this same topic. The book, I knew, was bound to stir some passions, and it has. I have a dozen ecological topics listed, so anti-green zealots were bound to find me. And the main way they have attacked the book is by wielding this Global Warming Petition.

Shady oil funds traced to Washington senate candidate

The FBI raided the offices of six Alaskan legislators last week, looking for evidence of illegal dealings with the oil firm VECO. The investigation has prompted beneficiaries further south to quickly stash evidence of their own shady dealings, including Washington State Republican Senate candidate Mike McGavick.

Wacky cult thought highly of the fear & environmentalism series

One of the troubles in discussing the issues of fear and violence is that any attempt to condemn them, or suggest alternatives, is inevitably cast as fuzzy-headed and idealistic. It doesn't help that such attempts tend to attract the genuinely fuzzy-headed and idealistic.

I hoped my F&E posts had done something to circumvent that.

Then yesterday, I got a letter in the mail that began thusly:

Fool Me Rice

Unapproved GM rice from China pops up in European stores A variety of genetically modified rice from China has made it into Asian specialty stores and Asian restaurants in the E.U. — and the Europeans ain’t too happy about it. A new report from Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth claims that some rice noodles […]

No environmentalism is complete without consideration of animal welfare

Under a previous post on whaling, a commenter pointed out the hypocrisy of those in the environmental movement who oppose whaling while tacitly supporting other forms of animal slaughter no less morally offensive. The commenter made the point that as long as an animal species is being managed sustainably, there is nothing inherently wrong with using that animal, no matter how sentient, in whatever ways we desire.

This contention gets at a key weakness in the environmental movement, which deserves significantly more discussion and debate. According to this ethic of sustainability, all that matters is the quantity of the environment, not the quality, in terms of how non-human animals are treated.

This environmental ethic is almost by definition amoral; it provides space for such practices as:

Vote for your favorite Science Idol

The finalists are in. Vote for your favorite at Science Idol: The Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest, sponsored by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Thawing permafrost, oh my.

One of the truly horrific unfolding disasters of the climate crisis is the thawing of Siberian permafrost, which has the potential to dwarf human emissions of CO2 and methane. And it looks like it's getting started. But don't worry, I'm sure those crazy alarmist scientists use words like "ticking time bomb" all the time, right?

Mother Jones highlights the work of two eco-activists

Just a quick post to point to Mother Jones' 13th annual roundup of campus activism. Highlights below the fold:

Fascinating

Noted investigative journalist and author Edwin Black has a new book out: Internal Combustion: How Corporations and Governments Addicted the World to Oil and Derailed the Alternatives. It's about the transition from electric cars (and public transit), which were widespread in the late 19th century, to internal-combustion cars. Suffice to say, the "free market" played very little role.

There's a great interview with Black over on Reform Judaism Magazine. Here's a taste: