Wednesday 30 November 2005

A cleaner, greener Rodney Hide

I"ve just finished reading an excellent speech on environmentalism from Rodney Hide, in which he also talks a little about his own background in the area, about which I bet many are unaware. Subjects covered include:
  • A very brief history of modern environmental doomsday-ism.
  • The authoritarian Greens and their 'Peak Oil' fantasy -- "'Peak Oil' is another imminent doomsday scenario of an oil-starved post-industrial world of war, famine, and international chaos... 'Peak Oil' is demonstrably not a fact... At the hands of the Greens the Hubbert bell curve hypothesis has become first a geological fact and then a piece of propaganda to push for the political 'transformation of our civilisation.' Besides, the best response to resource shortage is the free market, not a planned economy as the Greens promote."
  • The RMA -- "the Resource Management Act pinches private property rights, overturns the market and ignores prices in favour of a political process that grants temporary government consents to use resources. The Act was developed by Labour and implemented by National. It stands as last century's biggest land grab."
  • The basket case of the fomer Eastern Bloc -- "we care for our environment like the former Eastern Bloc countries cared for their economies."
  • Property rights and tradeable water rights -- which as he says "allows water to be priced and valued. That encourages water to be put to its most valued use and encourages conservation because it gives water a value."
  • How production, good science and good law are essential for humans and the environment.
He concludes:

The command-and-control approach to managing resources crumbled in the Eastern Bloc countries. We should learn the lesson for environmental policy.

To provide for our environment we need to uphold property rights and extend them.

That's the way for a more prosperous country. And a cleaner, greener New Zealand
Quite right too. Well said, Rodney.

Linked Speech: Making New Zealand Prosperous, Clean and Green

2 comments:

maksimovich said...

It is an excellent perspective,bringing reasoned argument from someone who is well qualified (surprising)to.The Peak oil question is even older then Hubberts hypothesis.It was originally written by Jervons in 1866 and was an essay on the Coal question and its supply/efficiency/demand constraints.

If you change coal to oil the 19th century becomes the 20 and 21st roght dowm to the free trade debate and globalization.

The greens Fitzsimmons who opened the SINZ conference in Dunedin have been surprisingly quiet on this.

The president of the Peak oil Assoc.who has been speaking also has another string to his bow.

Kjell Aleklett from the University of Upsala is also Professor of Radiation Science

His departments reseach studies are

Heavy Ion Reaction (HIR) Studies
at Low and Intermediate Energies

In support of these goals, we are pursuing, or have recently pursued, the following research: * The study of angular momentum transfer in intermediate energy nuclear collisions.
* The study of fusion-like residues produced in intermediate and relativistic nuclear collisions.
* Development of time of flight system for detection of heavy residues
* The study of fusion enhancement with neutron-rich radioactive projectiles (in reactions that are relevant for the synthesis of new heavy nuclei).
* The study of fusion enhancement with halo nuclei.
* The generation of new neutron-rich and proton-rich nuclei by intermediate energy projectile fragmentation.
* The study of "hot fusion" path to the heaviest nuclei and why it works.
* The synthesis of new heavy nuclei using “cold fusion” reactions.

Yep cold nuclear fusion and the new reactor to be built in France

Hmm here to teach isotopes to isodopes?

Libertyscott said...

He's got it! There is hope yet.