Hot Air? Save the Whales

There was a very thought-provoking OpEd in today's WSJ by Daniel Botkin titled "Global Warming Delusions". It was a very sane piece lamenting the current political/societal debate over what global warming means. Botkin laments the fact that "beliefs" have pushed scientific facts and reasoning into the background, while along the way squashing the inconvenient findings of renowned scientists. For instance, one overlooked study attributes the causation of the melting of the snows of Kiliminjaro to increased solar radiation, not to changing air temperatures (i.e. global warming). Why is this significant? Because at that altitude the air is below freezing 365 days/year, and the melting patterns are consistent with increased solar radiation.

I of course bring up this controversial topic because it has huge implications for global policy, political rationing, and ultimately of the rationing and efficiency of future capital projects. Future estimated costs of $10 Trillion over 100 years is a big number; and this is just to prevent the rising of global temperatures by 1 degree Celsius. Reasoned discourse, intellectual curiosity and science must guide this debate, or we could go bankrupt trying to solve what could be a natural cyclical phenomenon. Climate change of course has merit; the real question is "how to we attribute changes in temperature"? And "how do we measure these changes"?

In terms of alternative fuels, a comprehensive U.S. energy policy that rewards exploration of any and all alternative fuel generation is paramount. Hand out tax breaks, and accelerated depreciation, and no taxes for 30 years! With oil at $88/barrell right now, the economics of making this a reality have never been better! This problem could be solved in 10 years using the ingenuity of free-market participants. In a little-reflected fact, oil actually is/was a free-market based alternative fuel; its discovery and plentitude actually saved the whales from extinction!

Necessity truly is the mother of invention; long may she thrive.