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The Dallas Morning News has an interview up that Rod Dreher conducted with Texas State University’s James McWilliams, a self-identified “agrarian” who’s already made a name for himself (see here for an especially angry (and especially profanity-laden) response) as a critic of the excesses of the “locavore” movement. The interview touches on a range of [...]
Filed under: agriculture, environment, food
Having just finished reading it, I’ll join Ross and Rod and Will Wilkinson in strongly recommending Nicholas Davidoff’s profile of Freeman Dyson in this weekend’s New York Times Magazine. It’s one of the most enjoyable pieces of this sort that I’ve read in quite a while. Here’s an especially choice bit:
What may trouble Dyson most [...]
Filed under: environment, science/tech
The Telegraph reports that it may be contributing to global warming. I’m inclined to quote what Russell Arben Fox wrote last week:
… I am fully aware of the various economic impact calculations that have been made of recycling efforts over the years, many of which have concluded that melting down plastic and reprocessing paper and [...]
Filed under: energy, environment
Ryan Avent worries about what will happen if the Obama administration fails to pass significant climate change legislation:
I don’t think warming will mean the end of humanity, but it will be serious enough that major geo-political change will take place, leading to all manner of unpredictable, and often catastrophic, outcomes. And as we approach critical [...]
Filed under: energy, environment
Via Ron Bailey, I see that Obama’s choice to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (which is, I should note, my weather-junkie wife’s very favorite federal agency and her most-trusted source for daily weather) is a declared supporter of the use of property rights to restore fisheries, a promising strategy that I wrote about [...]
Filed under: environment, food, government/law
As Lee joins Ezra Klein in cautioning against an overemphasis on locavorism, I’d like to emphasize in turn that there are lots of reasons to eat locally-produced food that have very little to do with the desire to reduce emissions. For one thing, as Jim Henley points out, local food tasty – and for a [...]
Filed under: energy, environment, food
I’d very much like to see more details on the research mentioned in this article, which reports that the British government, out of embarrassment at having encouraged environmentally-conscious people to use cloth diapers – sorry, nappies – for such a long time, is suppressing a study that found that, unless they’re washed and dried [...]
Filed under: environment, science/tech
Following the lead of Matt Yglesias, Ryan Avent points out that there are all sorts of ways in which conservative/libertarian opposition to stupid government interventions – licensing requirements, stupid land use restrictions, unnecessary hurdles to starting up a business, etc. – has the potential to yield huge benefits. I’d strongly disagree, though, with any implication [...]
Filed under: conservatism, environment, government/law, libertarianism
Earlier today, Andrew Sullivan repeated a charge whose transparent falsity I’ve pointed out to him over e-mail before: namely, that Sarah Palin is a “liar” for having said the following to ABC’s Charlie Gibson about her position on climate change:
… show me where I have ever said that there’s absolute proof that nothing that man [...]
Filed under: environment, media/culture, politics, science/tech
Michael Pollan’s missive to the next President on the future of American food policy is well worth reading, and not just because it quotes me:
Writing of the movement back to local food economies, traditional foods (and family meals) and more sustainable farming, The American Conservative magazine editorialized last summer that “this is a conservative [...]
Filed under: agriculture, energy, environment, food, government/law