Two-fer QOTD

"[It's] a feeble gesture, like bailing the Titanic with a teaspoon."
- McKay, on current global warming efforts like stupid light bulbs and unplugging cell phone chargers

"[It] would be like putting an inefficient [computer] on everyone's desk in 1965."
- Bjorn Lomborg, on premature switching to current "alternative" energy sources

WSJ source on these: Climate Fight Heads for New Round

Here's a thousand words (below), also form that article. US and Europe emissions are flat. The emerging countries are the area of growth in both economies and carbon emissions. In 10 years, the US and Europe will be tiny tiny on this graph.


Light bulbs and 40 mpg cars and paying for clunkers and other "teaspoon on the Titanic" measures have virtually no impact on global carbon emissions. They are two things: 1) further, unnecessary control by the feds over individual lives, and 2) more busy work for the nabobs.

Let's assume global warming is man made. I do not. In either case, a fairly simple solution would include:

1. Spend a little - Spend a small percentage of fed research $$$ on alternative energy. Lomborg quotes 0.05% of GDP. It sounds small, but he makes sense. This stuff isn't a
   
2. Use what we got - Allow greater investment in known, proven clean technologies like nuc-ular, clean coal, and yes drilling for more oil. Slowing economic growth slows research $$$ and activity.
3. Do nothing - People adjust their consumption according to its cost. As energy costs go up, consumption goes down, ala gas prices last year. There is no need for fed mandates on everything from light bulbs to lawnmowers. If you're itching to do something, then just provide incentives rewarding energy-saving behavior like better building codes and higher MPG cars.
   

Now, let's close our eyes and pretend for a second. Rather than calling for some bullshit "green" plan that taxes the bejesus out of everyone and shifts control to the feds,what if President Obama called for a national "man on the moon" goal to find viable alternative technologies by 2020... a solution built on growth, leadership and technology.

Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know.
green schmeen... yow, bill

PS - The best online dating service is www.plentyoffish.com. POF is just one guy... though I read that he just hired his first programmer. POF has 22% market share of online dating services. It's one of the best metaphors for life/business in the 21st century. One smart, dedicated guy (Marcus Frind) is able to project his goodness in a way that touches millions. And of course, he gets to pocket millions himself. This is how real problems are solved: entrepreneurs. Here's the POF guy's blog, which is really interesting.

Labels: globalwarming, qotd