Environment
Commentary
Michael Crichton’s Remainder Bin
Michael Crichton, who died at 66 on November 4, election day, may not have been an outstanding stylist but he sure sold a few books in his time, mostly in the techno-thriller genre, such as Jurassic Park. He was a writer of ideas and also a medical doctor (Harvard Medical ...
Commentary
Does Climate Regulation Help the Economy?
Sacramento Union, November 6, 2008 A new study, Energy Efficiency, Innovation, and Job Creation in California, claims that California’s energy-efficiency policies created nearly 1.5 million jobs from 1977 to 2007. The Oct. 20 study, which examined only household spending, comes as the regulatory regime has gained momentum. At the same ...
Agriculture
Preventionitis: American Health Care’s Chronic Utopian Delusion
Chronic illness is often identified as a culprit responsible for high health costs. By chronic illness, we usually mean diabetes, heart disease, etc. It’s time to add another chronic ailment to the list: “preventionitis”. This is the utopian delusion that investment in “prevention” – eating better, exercising more, quitting smoking, ...
Business & Economics
Impact – October 2008
PRI Ideas in Action – October 2008 Policy Update and Monthly Impact Report PRI continues to impact public policy in California, the nation, and abroad. Click below to view PRI’s recent contributions. Read PDF
Commentary
How Copenhagen is becoming like Houston
Just came across this article on urban development in Copenhagen, Denmark, and how many parallels there are to what we face in Houston, where a decentralized city makes transit increasingly impractical. Excerpts: In all the 37 years I have been traveling to and living in Copenhagen, it has always struck ...
Climate Change
James Hansen Goes Extreme
NASA’s James Hansen, head of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, is no stranger to controversy. But in September, Dr. Hansen took his activism to another level by endorsing “ecovandalism” in a British court. Dr. Hansen, who holds an M.S. in astronomy and a Ph.D. in physics, comes billed as ...
Commentary
Costing Out California’s Global Warming Solutions Act
On Sept. 17, the California Air Resources Board released an economic analysis of their own implementation scheme for AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. The analysis said, “not only will the economy grow by a similar amount as we move toward 2020, but it will grow at ...
Agriculture
Wireless soil sensors to help farming, improve understanding of carbon, nitrogen cycles
Biopact.com, October 13, 2008 Researchers from Iowa State University are developing wireless soil sensors that will improve farming and may help grow our understanding of the increasingly important carbon and nitrogen cycles. The sensors could also help determine the effects of biochar added to soils. Interestingly, the sensors can be ...
Agriculture
National Park Service Scientist Caught Spreading False Environmental Data
Environment and Climate News (Heartland Institute), October 9, 2008 A senior science advisor with the National Park Service (NPS) knowingly used false scientific data to overstate the environmental impact of a family-run oyster farm in the Point Reyes National Seashore, on the Pacific Coast 30 miles south of San Francisco, ...
Energy
Googling Energy
Later the same month, Al Gore introduced a proposal for 100 percent of U.S. electricity to be generated from renewable energy within 10 years. The Google web page for their plan references both schemes, stating that the intention of the latest proposal is to continue to move the discussion forward. ...
Michael Crichton’s Remainder Bin
Michael Crichton, who died at 66 on November 4, election day, may not have been an outstanding stylist but he sure sold a few books in his time, mostly in the techno-thriller genre, such as Jurassic Park. He was a writer of ideas and also a medical doctor (Harvard Medical ...
Does Climate Regulation Help the Economy?
Sacramento Union, November 6, 2008 A new study, Energy Efficiency, Innovation, and Job Creation in California, claims that California’s energy-efficiency policies created nearly 1.5 million jobs from 1977 to 2007. The Oct. 20 study, which examined only household spending, comes as the regulatory regime has gained momentum. At the same ...
Preventionitis: American Health Care’s Chronic Utopian Delusion
Chronic illness is often identified as a culprit responsible for high health costs. By chronic illness, we usually mean diabetes, heart disease, etc. It’s time to add another chronic ailment to the list: “preventionitis”. This is the utopian delusion that investment in “prevention” – eating better, exercising more, quitting smoking, ...
Impact – October 2008
PRI Ideas in Action – October 2008 Policy Update and Monthly Impact Report PRI continues to impact public policy in California, the nation, and abroad. Click below to view PRI’s recent contributions. Read PDF
How Copenhagen is becoming like Houston
Just came across this article on urban development in Copenhagen, Denmark, and how many parallels there are to what we face in Houston, where a decentralized city makes transit increasingly impractical. Excerpts: In all the 37 years I have been traveling to and living in Copenhagen, it has always struck ...
James Hansen Goes Extreme
NASA’s James Hansen, head of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, is no stranger to controversy. But in September, Dr. Hansen took his activism to another level by endorsing “ecovandalism” in a British court. Dr. Hansen, who holds an M.S. in astronomy and a Ph.D. in physics, comes billed as ...
Costing Out California’s Global Warming Solutions Act
On Sept. 17, the California Air Resources Board released an economic analysis of their own implementation scheme for AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. The analysis said, “not only will the economy grow by a similar amount as we move toward 2020, but it will grow at ...
Wireless soil sensors to help farming, improve understanding of carbon, nitrogen cycles
Biopact.com, October 13, 2008 Researchers from Iowa State University are developing wireless soil sensors that will improve farming and may help grow our understanding of the increasingly important carbon and nitrogen cycles. The sensors could also help determine the effects of biochar added to soils. Interestingly, the sensors can be ...
National Park Service Scientist Caught Spreading False Environmental Data
Environment and Climate News (Heartland Institute), October 9, 2008 A senior science advisor with the National Park Service (NPS) knowingly used false scientific data to overstate the environmental impact of a family-run oyster farm in the Point Reyes National Seashore, on the Pacific Coast 30 miles south of San Francisco, ...
Googling Energy
Later the same month, Al Gore introduced a proposal for 100 percent of U.S. electricity to be generated from renewable energy within 10 years. The Google web page for their plan references both schemes, stating that the intention of the latest proposal is to continue to move the discussion forward. ...
