The Market and The Environment

The Nobel Committee not withstanding the marketplace will determine the impact of global warming.  Everything we hear on global warming is that it is bad.  Maybe not.  How can you tell?  The reaction on the world population on what they buy and sell will show you.

Small signs of rationality are beginning to show in the marketplace that contradict the hype currently surrounding the global warming.  In a recent search for information on cars on Consumer Reports I found a statement about the operational cost savings associated with hybrid cars. ”Buyers interested in hybrids only to save money may be disappointed.”  When buyers will see cost savings then cars that use other those that are petroleum based will really take off.

It is also economic suicide for western nations to try and tackle global warming with India and China on board.  Recently, a trade from the Wisconsin, my fair state, went to China on a mission.  One representative reported that the smog from pollution in Beijing was disastrous.  He said that by 10 in the morning it was impossible to see more than a block in the city.  That’s crazy bad.  And, that’s one of 50 cities in China which have a population over 5 million.  I’m gonna bet that if the Chinese aren’t in on any plan to reduce carbon emissions there will be little anyone else can do.  I haven’t even mentioned India, have I.

Remember hype sells newspapers and blog advertising.  Which gathers more attention.  Global Warming Benefits Outweigh Costs or Global Warming Will End Civilization As We Know It.  Maybe a close reading of Bjron Lomborg’s book :Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming” is in order.

Finally, recent studies of markets conclusively show that groups of people acting individually select the optimum solution over time much more often than individual experts.  It’s what investment analysts have been saying for years.  Stock pickers don’t win over the long haul.  The extension of that understanding to other aspects of life is appropriate.

I like clean air as much as the next person, but hyperbole about global warming does a disservice to the population.  Don’t tell me that the oceans are going to rise 20 feet when they are most likely to rise 1 foot.  That makes all the other statements about the subject suspect.