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Talking point: Global warming and economic growth

Many people in positions of power -- and not just global warming skeptics -- believe the following two things:

1. Economic growth is an engine driven by fossil fuels. Remove all restrictions on fossil fuel use, growth surges. Restrict fossil fuel use, growth slows.
2. "Doing something about global warming" means restricting or capping carbon dioxide emissions, which means restricting fossil fuel use.

The inevitable conclusion is that the only way to fight global warming is to slow down and possibly cripple the economy. Thus you get calls for "certainty" about exactly how much damage global warming will do, so it can be weighed against the damage of mitigating global warming.

This picture of the situation is grossly distorted. Here's why, in a nutshell:

Power recycling

John draws my attention to this piece in the Toronto Star about power recycling (combined heat and power, or CHP). In turn, that reminded me of the long post I wrote about power recycling a while back. It's a good one, if I do say so myself, and nobody else did, so I have to.

Pennsylvania Green

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) is in trouble. His Dem opponent, Robert Casey Jr., is ahead in the polls. All signs point to a humiliating loss this November.

So apparently the Pennsylvania Republican Party thought it would be a good idea to gin up a Green Party campaign, to siphon off Dem votes.

This has been mostly speculation until now, but over at TPMMuckraker, they've done due diligence and discovered that every single contributor to the Penn. Green campaign is a conservative -- except one. Who's the one? The candidate himself.

I'm just saying.

Congress and global warming

This is mentioned in the Daily Grist, but Darren Samuelsohn has a great piece of reporting in Greenwire today. Juicy insider tidbits abound. It's paid-subscription-only, so I'm poaching it for you to read here:

More detail on environment in National Security Strategy

Back in March I wrote about how the Bush White House issued a new National Security Strategy (NSS) that included environmental issues, something they had taken out of their 2002 version. In short, Hurricane Katrina put the environment back on the U.S. security agenda when it overwhelmed our civilian and military capacities.

We have done more in-depth analysis of this NSS, now available on the Woodrow Wilson Center's website. The Stanley Foundation has also written a well-argued critique of the 2006 NSS, although it is not specifically focused on the environment.

Pombo’s staff v. Connecticut

Rep. Richard "Dick" Pombo (R-Calif.) is a big proponent of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. So, apparently, are his staffers. When an editorial appeared in a Connecticut paper opposing the latest effort to drill the Refuge, senior Pombo advisor Daniel Kish had this to say:

Connecticut should have its statehood taken away from it. The foolishness of its pampered residents should be demonstrated to others by a government program to bulldoze the entire state, salt the land and construct a windfarm to supply NYC with electricity. And its residents should be relocated to Guantanamo Bay where they can take a number behind the 3 who hung themselves this weekend, since they seem so intent on suicide.

Lovely.

(via Stakeholder)

Update [2006-8-2 12:53:37 by David Roberts]: The Roll Call story is subscription-only, so here's the full bit from today's gossip column:

It’s tough living in a post-Katrina world

What happens when a hurricane wrecks your city, the feds fail to respond, and then the whole country kinda forgets about you? This. Not exactly surprising, but makes a sad story even more so.

Confusing capitalism with industrialization

In conversations with many environmentalists (and others) I often hear the comment that capitalism (and market-based economics more generally) is leading to the destruction of the planet. After a little prodding, I realize that what most of these people are referring to is not capitalism, but industrialization: the development of industry on an extensive scale.

DDT Time

DDT poised for a comeback to fight malaria in Africa Hoping to gain ground in the fight against malaria, the World Health Organization will soon endorse the spraying of DDT in small amounts inside homes in afflicted areas. In May, the U.S. Agency for International Development made a similar endorsement. Malaria, spread by mosquitoes, kills […]

Wind powder

The NYT reports today that Colorado ski resort giant Vail Resorts is investing heavily in wind, "buying enough credits to offset all the power needed for its resorts, retail stores and office buildings."

Vail Resort's purchase makes them the second largest purchaser of wind credit after Whole Foods. The article states that Vail Resorts accounts for "10% of all skier visits in the nation last year." This makes their commitment a pretty significant splash on the ski scene.