The following is a guest article by Frits Byron Soepyan. NASA claimed that “Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate” and “human activity is the principal cause.” Others proposed spending trillions of dollars to control the climate. But are we humans responsible for climate change? And what can we do about it? “The climate of planet Earth has never stopped changing since the Earth’s genesis, sometimes relatively rapidly, sometimes very slowly, but always surely,” says Patrick Moore in Fake Invisible Catastrophes and Threats of Doom. “Hoping for a ‘perfect stabl ..read more

Some commenters on my previous blog post, Net Zero CO2 Emissions: A Damaging and Totally Unnecessary Goal, were dubious of my claim that nature will continue to remove CO2 from the atmosphere at about the same rate even if anthropogenic emissions decrease…or even if they were suddenly eliminated. Rather than appeal to the simple CO2 budget model I created for that blog post, let’s look at the published data from the 123 (!) authors the IPCC relies upon to provide their best estimate of CO2 flows in and out of the atmosphere, the Global Carbon Project team. I created the following chart ..read more

For centuries, Somali pastoralists have relied on camels for sustenance, transport and social status. In recent decades, camel husbandry has evolved into a very profitable business, transforming the lives of many Somalis. However, the mainstream media, using images of dry lands, would have us believe that this flourishing enterprise is threatened by man-made climate change. Camel Husbandry in the Horn of Africa and Media Fearmongering Camels, also known as “ships of the desert,” truly stand out as remarkable creatures perfectly tailored to thrive in the parched, windswept landscapes of arid ..read more

The goal of reaching “Net Zero” global anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide sounds overwhelmingly difficult. While humanity continues producing CO2 at increasing rates (with a temporary pause during COVID), how can we ever reach the point where these emissions start to fall, let alone reach zero by 2050 or 2060? What isn’t being discussed (as far as I can tell) is the fact that atmospheric CO2 levels (which we will assume for the sake of discussion causes global warming) will start to fall even while humanity is producing lots of CO2. Let me repeat that, in case you missed the point: At ..read more

Remember the American love for the open road? That paean to American freedom built on the automobile but made possible by highways that also enabled trucks to deliver goods to just about any location quickly and safely? Hot cars are still popular today, as evidenced by the fact that the “Fast and Furious” movies have generated about $2 billion in ticket sales in the U.S. and another $5 billion worldwide. Formula 1 reported revenues of more than $3.2 billion in 2023, with profits up by 64%. In 2021, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), which governs world m ..read more

The following is a guest article by Jeremiah Poff. When I was a college student in the dilapidated industrial city of Steubenville, Ohio, I frequently would wake up to the smell of sulfur clinging to a heavy morning fog, thanks to the fumes spewed into the air by nearby industrial factories. I mention this not to disparage Steubenville, a town that once exemplified the American manufacturing dream but has since suffered greatly amid a decades-long economic decline. Rather I mention it because, over the four years I spent smelling the same stench each time I walked to a morning clas ..read more

The current obsession with decarbonization had its roots in the reaction to the amazing post-WW2 period, when ordinary workers were able to own a house and a car. I was a student in the 50s and early 60s. Mockery of the poor taste and materialism of these people was endemic. With the Vietnam War, things got amplified, as the working class got drafted while students sought draft deferments (students, during this period, were still a relative elite; the massive expansion of higher education was only beginning). They justified their behavior by insisting that the Vietnam War was illegitimate, w ..read more

The energy-poor nation of Ethiopia has just become the first in the world to ban the import of all non-electric automobiles. This despite the fact that barely half of Ethiopian citizens have any access to electricity. Other sources say that number may be as low as 30 percent. On the other hand, electricity in Ethiopia is cheap – just six-tenths of a cent per kilowatt-hour for households and 2.1 cents/kWh for businesses, compared with 15.6 cents and 15.2 cents, respectively, worldwide. Electricity is cheaper than gasoline (about $2 per liter). Cheap, that is, until the rea ..read more

How bad is the EV business? Ford Motor Company just reported that the operating loss it incurred on its EV business in 2023 exceeded its total profit for the year. That shocking fact comes directly from the company’s earnings report, which carried the headline, “Ford+ Delivers Solid 2023…” The Dearborn-based auto giant had an operating loss (also known as EBIT, or earnings before interest and taxes) of $4.7 billion on its EV business last year. Meanwhile, the company reported net income (profit) of just $4.3 billion, on revenue of $176 billion. The company also reported operating in ..read more

Plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) are great so long as generous taxpayers can afford to buy them for us and we don’t plan long winter trips to visit wayward brother Bubba who barely eeks out enough poultry chicken feed to sell inflationary $11 sandwiches to other country rubes at his local bar and grill. https://unsplash.com/photos/black-and-silver-car-on-parking-lot-O63S96_qn8c According to an October 2023 Texas Public Policy Foundation report, “Overcharged Expectations: Unmasking True Costs of Electric Vehicles,” as much as $48,000 of the real cost of an average U.S. 2021 model year ..read more