Some very smart people are trying to figure out whether, where, and to what extent air pollution is a killer. Most recently, Tyler Cowen wrote in Marginal Revolution about a new study claiming that 10.2 million people die from pollution by fine particulates (particles 2.5 microns or lower) each year. Sixty-two percent of those premature…
Search Results for: pollution
A Laffer Curve for Pollution?
Most of us naturally assume that some pollution is the price we must pay for economic progress. That may be true, but studies show that more pollution is bad for health, IQ, productivity and employment. That means that pollution reduces human capital. There may be a “Laffer Curve” for pollution, just as there is for…
Air Pollution, Sea Rise, and Virginia’s ‘Clean Economy Act’
Air pollution has been declining for years. Here are some charts. NoTricksZone.com || Rapid sea rise on Atlantic coast – in the 18th century. Eurekalert.org || Virginia tries to save the planet with ‘Clean Economy Act.’ Wattsupwiththat.com || Counting tweets: A scientific tool for measuring climate change? Heartland.org ||
API Endorses Carbon Pricing, But Biden Doesn’t
The American Petroleum Institute, the leading U. S. trade association for the oil and gas industry, has changed its position on carbon pricing. On March 25, it announced that it now supports “sensible legislation that prices carbon across all economic sectors while avoiding regulatory duplication.” The API’s statement of principles on carbon pricing set some…
Curbside Recycling Is Costly—So Make Producers Pay?
There’s a growing clamor for producers of plastic packaging to pay the costs of recycling their materials. On March 25, two Democratic congressmen from California and Oregon introduced a bill that would make such “Extended Producer Responsibility” (EPR) mandatory across the country, reports Waste Dive. That bill follows efforts within at least seven states to…
Laugh a Little: Climate Predictions and How They Panned Out
Paul Homewood of the Global Warming Policy Forum has put together recent predictions of climate change. A few: A Looming Ice Age. Numerous reports in the 1970s reflected concern that the Earth was heading towards a new ice age. These are nowadays often dismissed as mere newspaper gossip, but they were far more than that….
Your Electric Vehicle May Not Be as Eco-Friendly as You Think
Your electric car is using electricity produced elsewhere, often by coal-powered plants, write New York Times reporters Hiroko Tabuchi and Brad Plumer. Thus it could be producing more carbon dioxide emissions than you think. To the writers, who espouse reducing carbon emissions, this is a potential weakness of electric cars. “’Coal tends to be the critical factor,”’said…