Links 2023-11-13 - Environment
Three links related to environmental developments
Just three links of short posts to share on this broad topic today. Each of these has the potential to provoke or challenge your priors.
Writing at The Honest Broker, Roger Pielke Jr., professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado, examines what the IPCC actually says about extreme weather. Please do read all of the short post, but here is the critical part of the piece:
The IPCC has concluded that a signal of climate change has not yet emerged beyond natural variability for the following phenomena:
River floods
Heavy precipitation and pluvial floods
Landslides
Drought (all types)
Severe wind storms
Tropical cyclones
Sand and dust storms
Heavy snowfall and ice storms
Hail
Snow avalanche
Coastal flooding
Marine heat waves
. . .
The IPCC concludes that, to date, the signal of climate change has emerged in extreme heat and cold spells.
Notice how out of step the political environmental movement and journalism is with the actual science.
In an email to Tyler Cowen, Austin Vernon expounds upon why he believes fully-electric vehicles are superior to hybrids. This is certainly a pushback against the rising narrative that hybrids are the better path forward. Consider:
I don’t agree with electric vehicle mandates or subsidies, but the recent push against pure battery electric vehicles from free market commentators is bizarre. The arguments against them because of mineral shortages, battery shortages, or manufacturing emissions completely abandon free market principles. These arguments will lead to failure because they are obviously wrong after minimal investigation.
. . .
1. The majority of electric vehicles in the world use lead-acid batteries, not lithium-ion batteries. Low-speed electric vehicles are popular in China even though the government does not love them. They start at $1000 and might have 100 km of range. They are the Model T of electric cars, except with much better performance at a fraction of the cost of the Model T. They are modern marvels of economic growth. We don’t have these vehicles in rich countries because they would be illegal, and we can afford higher-performance vehicles. There are some exceptions, like golf carts in Peachtree City, GA.
2. Electric cars are a great value. Low-speed electric vehicles obviously provide value to have so many sales. Something like a Tesla Model 3 has the performance of a BMW 3 series with a total cost of ownership more like a Camry. The next generation of electric cars that Chinese automakers and Tesla are designing will have highway-capable performance with an ownership cost below any gasoline car available and entry level purchase prices.
3. The market is screaming for batteries that don’t use nickel or cobalt, and companies are delivering….
Marian Tupy at Human Progress makes the case for 3D-printed meat. He lists the potential virtues before attacking the common objections:
If this innovation takes off, the benefits of 3D-printed meat will be considerable. First, the need for animal suffering will diminish. We will need fewer cows, so we will raise and kill fewer of the beasts. Second, we will need less land for cattle, thus returning land to the wild – a goal long sought by environmentalists. We will also use less water and animal fodder – which should please the last of the deluded Malthusians. Third, 3D-printed meat may well turn out to be cleaner and healthier; animals on farms or in the wild are constantly exposed to viruses and parasites, which need to be medically treated before the meat becomes fit for human consumption. In a sterile lab environment, such problems will be minimized or eliminated.
I predict a future where people will commonly find it mindboggling and disgusting that the norm was raising animals for slaughter. This future is a long way off, but a thriving market for 3D meat greatly displacing traditional meat production is not—perhaps within a couple of decades.