Wednesday 14 December 2005

Global Warming? Just ignore it.

There are some whose politics behooves them to take a position on the science of Global Warming -- even if they really don't understand it -- and to insist that despite the science (or because of it) Global Warming is either happening and is real (or else is not happening and is a scam). Choose your politics and, it seems, have your position on Global Warming chosen for you. Neither good science, nor good politics it seems to me.

The libertarian position on Global Warming is somewhat different. It was well summed up by George Reisman at the end of his 1990 article 'The Toxicity of Environmentalism,' and his position on Global Warming is reprised today by Cafe Hayek:

Let’s assume that global warming is happening and that it’s caused by modern human industry and commerce. Is there a case to be made for the United States government to continue to avoid signing the Kyoto Protocol? More generally, is there a case to be made to shrug our shoulders and say “best not to do anything through government about global warming”?

I think so.

Read on here for the argument that the best way to treat all claims about Global Warming is benign political neglect.

Linked Article: A note on Global Warming
Related:
Environment, Global_Warming, Economics, Libertarianism, Science

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