Environment
Commentary
Dubious findings about food from the ‘Nutrition Researchers Guild’: How can we learn from this unscientific manipulation of statistics?
By Henry Miller and Stanley Young Are you confused about conflicting “research” findings on certain foods’ effects on our health? It would hardly be surprising. First, butter is the enemy; then, it’s solid margarine. Is caffeine good or bad for your heart? For a time, beta-carotene supplements are thought to prevent ...
Blog
California Continues to Push Renewables Despite Energy Storage Problem
Gov. Gavin Newsom deserves credit for recognizing that California’s irrational leap toward a fully renewable electricity grid by 2045 was moving far too fast. At the same time, he deserves criticism for continuing to aggressively push the transition. Newsom has recently backed delays in retiring four natural gas plants as ...
Blog
Wildfire needs holistic approaches to be extinguished before it begins
A fire in Paso Robles was recently stopped after just an acre burned. The quick stop was credited to the use of sheep and goats for “fuel abatement.” After catastrophic wildfires have burned valuable land across the west in recent years, the deployment of grazing livestock to minimize fuel loads ...
Commentary
Bad Piled on Bad
By Henry Miller & Andrew Fillat Less than a month after the Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia v. EPA, the White House is reportedly contemplating declaration of a “national climate emergency.” On July 20, at a former coal-fired power plant in Massachusetts, President Biden said, “Climate change is an emergency. And in the coming ...
Climate Change
When it Comes to Food Safety, ‘Organic’ Can Be a Risky Business
By Henry Miller and Kathleen Hefferon Many consumers are committed to organic products for reasons that are more emotional than logical. They frequently define their purchasing choices in terms of what they consider to be “wholesome and natural,” which often translates to the absence of “synthetic” inputs such as fertilizer ...
Blog
Rooftop Solar Panels Stacking Up in Landfills
Rooftop solar panels, those co-saviors of the planet along with windmills, are stacking up in toxic heaps in California landfills. But maybe things aren’t so bad. The real, rather than subsidized, cost of these green darlings is about to hit the market, making them too expensive for many to afford. ...
Commentary
California’s climate lawsuits threaten to raise energy prices and harm consumers
The recent Supreme Court ruling in West Virginia v. EPA reinforced the commonsense notion that it is the responsibility of our elected representatives, not the courts, to establish our nation’s global climate change policies. If only the states and localities suing the global energy companies, many of which are here ...
Agriculture
Eric Edwards and Sara Sutherland – How Federal Bureaucracy Hinder Projects to Reduce Wildfire Risk
With California’s fire season in full swing, Eric Edwards and Sara Sutherland, senior research fellows with the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) in Montana, join us to discuss their new paper detailing how bureaucratic federal environmental reviews – much like the California Environmental Quality Act – add delay and ...
Blog
November Ballot Measures – Coming Soon to a TV or Mailbox Near You
Just when you thought the election was over and you were safe from the barrage of dueling campaign ads, think again. Secretary of State Shirley Weber has just announced the statewide ballot measures that we’ll be deciding in the November election. This year’s ballot measures cover a host of hot ...
Commentary
What does the SEC have to do with farming anyway?
The Securities and Exchange Commission isn’t usually associated with a discussion of agriculture or greenhouse gas emissions. A recent proposal might change that. The SEC has proposed businesses begin disclosing their “climate-related risks” by tracking greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) throughout their value chain to investors. Writing that “investors will . ...
Dubious findings about food from the ‘Nutrition Researchers Guild’: How can we learn from this unscientific manipulation of statistics?
By Henry Miller and Stanley Young Are you confused about conflicting “research” findings on certain foods’ effects on our health? It would hardly be surprising. First, butter is the enemy; then, it’s solid margarine. Is caffeine good or bad for your heart? For a time, beta-carotene supplements are thought to prevent ...
California Continues to Push Renewables Despite Energy Storage Problem
Gov. Gavin Newsom deserves credit for recognizing that California’s irrational leap toward a fully renewable electricity grid by 2045 was moving far too fast. At the same time, he deserves criticism for continuing to aggressively push the transition. Newsom has recently backed delays in retiring four natural gas plants as ...
Wildfire needs holistic approaches to be extinguished before it begins
A fire in Paso Robles was recently stopped after just an acre burned. The quick stop was credited to the use of sheep and goats for “fuel abatement.” After catastrophic wildfires have burned valuable land across the west in recent years, the deployment of grazing livestock to minimize fuel loads ...
Bad Piled on Bad
By Henry Miller & Andrew Fillat Less than a month after the Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia v. EPA, the White House is reportedly contemplating declaration of a “national climate emergency.” On July 20, at a former coal-fired power plant in Massachusetts, President Biden said, “Climate change is an emergency. And in the coming ...
When it Comes to Food Safety, ‘Organic’ Can Be a Risky Business
By Henry Miller and Kathleen Hefferon Many consumers are committed to organic products for reasons that are more emotional than logical. They frequently define their purchasing choices in terms of what they consider to be “wholesome and natural,” which often translates to the absence of “synthetic” inputs such as fertilizer ...
Rooftop Solar Panels Stacking Up in Landfills
Rooftop solar panels, those co-saviors of the planet along with windmills, are stacking up in toxic heaps in California landfills. But maybe things aren’t so bad. The real, rather than subsidized, cost of these green darlings is about to hit the market, making them too expensive for many to afford. ...
California’s climate lawsuits threaten to raise energy prices and harm consumers
The recent Supreme Court ruling in West Virginia v. EPA reinforced the commonsense notion that it is the responsibility of our elected representatives, not the courts, to establish our nation’s global climate change policies. If only the states and localities suing the global energy companies, many of which are here ...
Eric Edwards and Sara Sutherland – How Federal Bureaucracy Hinder Projects to Reduce Wildfire Risk
With California’s fire season in full swing, Eric Edwards and Sara Sutherland, senior research fellows with the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) in Montana, join us to discuss their new paper detailing how bureaucratic federal environmental reviews – much like the California Environmental Quality Act – add delay and ...
November Ballot Measures – Coming Soon to a TV or Mailbox Near You
Just when you thought the election was over and you were safe from the barrage of dueling campaign ads, think again. Secretary of State Shirley Weber has just announced the statewide ballot measures that we’ll be deciding in the November election. This year’s ballot measures cover a host of hot ...
What does the SEC have to do with farming anyway?
The Securities and Exchange Commission isn’t usually associated with a discussion of agriculture or greenhouse gas emissions. A recent proposal might change that. The SEC has proposed businesses begin disclosing their “climate-related risks” by tracking greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) throughout their value chain to investors. Writing that “investors will . ...
