Tag: Limits to Growth
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Invisible Fuel (and “Limits to Growth” Thinking)
Economist: Inivisble Fuel THE CHEAPEST AND cleanest energy choice of all is not to waste it. Progress on this has been striking yet the potential is still vast. Improvements in energy efficiency since the 1970s in 11 IEA member countries that keep the right kind of statistics (America, Australia, Britain, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy,…
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Limits to Growth: Still Wrong, Still Influential – Bjorn Lomborg
Below is a presentation by Bjorn Lomborg at Creative Innovation 2013: Asia Pacific. I think this is a remarkable presentation. First, a few remarks. How much can the global economy grow? That is a big issue in economics and environmentalism. Clearly, the earth has a fixed quantity of resources. If the economy grows exponentially, then…
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Thoughts on the “The Limits to Panic”
Forty-one years after the publication of the infamous Limits to Growth, Bjorn Lomborg offers this excellent piece, The Limits to Panic: … But the report's fundamental legacy remains: we have inherited a tendency to obsess over misguided remedies for largely trivial problems, while often ignoring big problems and sensible remedies. In the early 1970's, the…
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We are not running out of commodities
I've been writing about the common misperception of the economy as a zero-sum game and the fear that we will soon (or ever) run out of nonrenewable resources. This is counterintuitive to so many people that I need to address it in detail. I wrote a draft of this section for my book, but I…
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Why Are Environmentalists Taking Anti-Science Positions?
Environment360: Why Are Environmentalists Taking Anti-Science Positions? On issues ranging from genetically modified crops to nuclear power, environmentalists are increasingly refusing to listen to scientific arguments that challenge standard green positions. This approach risks weakening the environmental movement and empowering climate contrarians. From Rachel Carson's Silent Spring to James Hansen's modern-day tales of climate apocalypse,…
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Why Will Never Run Out Oil: Markets
Carpe Diem: Julian Simon, Power of Market Prices, Why We'll Never Run Out of Oil, Why Peak Oil is Peak Idiocy As resource economist Julian Simon taught us years ago, we never have, and never will, run out of scarce resources like oil because as a resource becomes more scarce, its price will rise, which…
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Economic Fallacies: “Linear Projection”
The Linear Projection Fallacy projects present circumstances and trends endlessly into the future without allowing for innovation and societal change. There are about 300 million people in the USA today. About 13% (39 million) would say they were Black, and another 13% would say they were Hispanic. Let's say that by this century's end, we…
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Clear-Eyed Optimists
Wall Street Journal: Clear-Eyed Optimists The world is getting better, though no one likes to hear it. ………. I'm old enough to recall the days in the late 1960s when people wore those trendy buttons that read: "Stop the Planet I Want to Get Off." And I will never forget that era's "educational" films of…
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The Real Climate Change Alarmists
One of my favorite movie scenes is from the 1984 Bill Murray classic Ghostbusters. Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions. Mayor: What do you mean, "biblical"? Dr Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath-of-God type stuff. Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly. Dr Ray Stantz:…