climate change

Out of my commitment to being a kinder, gentler James, I mostly try to ignore the tiresome talking points emanating from Art Pope's Puppetshow. But every now and then the Puppets write something so sublimely ignorant that it's hard to let it pass. That's what happened today, with the latest "report" produced by Daren Bakst.

Recent high energy prices are taking their toll on the economy, Bakst said. “A Congressional Budget Office study that examined the impact of high gasoline prices on the economy found Gross Domestic Product in 2006 is probably lower by about one percent, or $132 billion, than it would have been if energy prices had not risen,” he said. “In addition, the average household’s annual spending on energy goods and services rose by about $1,700 between 2003 and 2006, and their saving rate dropped sharply.”

Imagine my surprise today to open The New York Times and see a near full-page ad for a conference co-sponsored by our own John Locke Foundation. It is the "International Conference On Climate Change" at the Marriott in New York City, which promises to "prove there is no scientific consensus on the causes or likely consequences of global warming."

North Carolina is the only state in the country where every part of the state is in a designated Drought condition. Even if you’ve been living under a rock and have missed the media attention you can’t have failed to notice the drying earth beneath you.

Recently Duke Energy received permission from the State of North Carolina to build a new coal fired power plant in Cliffside, North Carolina. Despite the facts that this new plant could be a major polluter of CO2, mercury, and evaporate 21 million gallons of water each day. You can find all the details here on NC Warn's website.

We've all learned not to expect much from the "experts" at the John Locke Foundation, but today's story in the Carolina Journal reaches a hilarious new low.

RALEIGH – A model the Appalachian State University Energy Center used to project the economic impact of N.C. climate change policies has “serious flaws” that undermine its credibility. That’s the verdict of a new peer review report (pdf version) from a Boston-based economic research group.

The John Locke Foundation is drawing attention to the peer review it commissioned from the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University. The peer review raises red flags about the model’s projections. “The Appalachian State Energy Center used this model to predict hundreds of thousands of new jobs and a major positive impact on North Carolina’s economy,” said Dr. Roy Cordato, JLF Vice President for Research and Resident Scholar. “Trained economists conducting this new peer review found that the model is so flawed that no one should trust the results.”

Sorry for not getting this on the front-page sooner. Fredly asked me to post this a couple of days ago, but I've been a little over-extended. In any case, here's a cut-n-paste from his/her comment on another thread.

Bottom line? Big Business (this time in the form of Duke Energy) wants to exercise its god-given legislature-given rights to foul the earth in pursuit of profits. This guy is working to stop them.

And we need to help.

In a post at Ed's Place today, John "the Stagemanager" Hood defends one of his minion's absurd injection of Christianity into the climate-change debate. Hood had this to say about a link to BlueNC:

I don't much care what gets posted on the kook sites. The sillier they look, the better off we are at JLF. If they didn't exist as comic relief, we might be tempted to invent them just to serve as a useful foil. But Ed, I thought you had employed a better editorial filter.

Which brings to mind words from someone considerably wiser.

Come hear Dr. James Hansen speak on solving the global climate emergency; his leading recommendation: a moratorium on coal-fired power plants such as the one planned by Duke Energy at Cliffside, North Carolina (RSVP strongly recommended).

Friday, November 16 - 7pm
Queens University of Charlotte
RSVP at www.clean-air-coalition.org

Saturday, November 17 - 3pm
The Friday Center - Chapel Hill
RSVP at www.ncwarn.org

Admission for both forums are FREE but seats are going fast. Be sure to reserve your seat today!

Frontpaged by Anglico.

Here's some good news from Richard Moore - bringing the climate change debate home to North Carolina.