Yesterday’s New York Times reports on a new study published in the Lancet, which questions those who advise pregnant women to cut back on fish consumption for fear of poisoning their babies with methylmercury. According to the Times, “the researchers found that the children whose mothers ate less than 12 ounces of seafood a week were about 45 percent more likely to fall into the lowest 25 percent in I.Q.” Says study author Joseph R. Hibbeln of the U.S. Public Health…

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Prince Charles made headlines earlier this week when he suggested to the staff of a diabetes clinic in Abu Dhabi that McDonald’s fast food should be banned for health reasons. It turns out Charles knows a little something about selling food - he sells his own retail line of packaged organic foods. One interesting item is a Cornish pasty, which, as it turns out, has more fat, salt and calories than a Big Mac. The Evening Standard’s graphic design people break…

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In selecting Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” as the winner for best documentary, the Academy Awards sent a disturbing message to aspiring documentary makers. The message they sent is: “Don’t bother doing the hard work of capturing events as they happen and gathering a range of interivews. Your work will be trumped for recognition should a politician decide to make a slide show with some fancy cartoons.”

I’m not taking issue so much with the politics of “An Inconvenient Truth,”…

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In the news today, a brilliant idea by Prince Charles — Let’s just ban McDonald’s so that people eat healther! This is what happens to a man with no gainful employment. He runs around pushing his la-la notions of what the little people ought to be doing. Myself, I’m no fan of Mickey Dee cuisine, but I know a lot of parents who look to the burger chain as a fast, efficient, pleasing way of feeding the kids (who clamor for…

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The issue of global warming has attracted much attention over the past decade. CEI analysts such as Marlo Lewis have argued that regulations aimed at greenhouse gases tend to be all economic pain and no environmental gain, costing the economy trillions while having little effect on greenhouse gases (much less overall climate change).

The public also seems to be skeptical of imposing taxes on activities that result in greenhouse gas emissions. In a poll by the Washington Post Express newspaper (the…

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On February 26, a Rhode Island court ruled that the paint industry is liable for a statewide “public nuisance” because long ago, paint companies sold lead paint in Rhode Island, at a time when doing so was perfectly legal.

The paint companies have been collectively held liable based on their share of lead paint sales in America as a whole, not Rhode Island in particular. Under the court’s decision, an out-of-state paint manufacturer is liable even if there was no proof…

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Apparently Al Gore now uses Green Power to light and heat his home, so he isn’t entirely hypocritical.

However, the issue here is that if we want to mitigate carbon emissions, we have to institute rationing of some sort.  Al is living by this principle.  Carbon-free energy in Nashville costs $4 extra per 150 kw, so if you can afford to pay that, you get to live the lifestyle you want.  Gore will pay approximately $6,000 extra this year for the privilege. …

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When I read about sainted Al’s massive power demands I immediately thought, “Surely he must use Green Power from windmills or something like that.”

Apparently not:

Gore could not dispute the findings of the group as they come directly from public records.  Kalee Kreider, a spokesperson for the Gores, instead pointed out that both Al and Tipper Gore work out of their home and she argued that “the bottom line is that every family has a different carbon footprint. And what Vice President…

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Well, the food-or-fuel debate has now been recognized by the mainstream media, previously salivating over the wonderful tax benefits and subsidies for corn ethanol production to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Earlier, there were articles about the high prices for Mexican tortillas; then, features about hog and poultry producers facing skyrocketing prices for corn feedstock.

Now, just about all food producers are realizing that — hey — high prices for corn translate into high costs for manufacturing such foodstuff as cereals, canned fruits and…

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John Tierney does it again.  In Tierney’s profile today of Stewart Brand — a staunch environmentalist and the man who gave us the Whole Earth Catalog — readers learn that Brand is now a staunch proponent of genetic engineering and nuclear energy.

Here is Brand’s view of agricultural biotechnology — a scourge on the earth, according to many environmental groups:

“He sees genetic engineering as a tool for environmental protection: crops designed to grow on less land with less pesticide; new microbes that protect…

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Some global-warming related stories you may have missed:

The EU’s rapidly rising transport emissions mean that they won’t meet their Kyoto targets “without additional measures.”
Ireland is in a particular pickle with its ransport emissions.
British government Ministers are contributing to the problem.
Hedge funds are rapidly retreating from investment in renewable energy technologies, which is showing signs of being a classic bubble market.
Sen. Feinstein says mandatory caps on emissions will not pass the Senate for “years.”
Scientist Roy Spencer points out the serious deficiencies of…

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Does Al Gore believe energy conservation is for the little people, the hoi polloi?

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research, as reported by the Drudge Report today, says that Al Gore’s home electricity use is 20x that of the average US household.

Gore’s mansion, [20-room, eight-bathroom] located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES).

Seems that the average household…

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How cute, Environmental Defense is declaring that “news just broke”—wink, they just now heard of it too!—that Texas Utilities (TXU) has agreed to a buyout by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. joined by a group chock-full of greens called the Texas Pacific Group. Why is this cause for environmentalist joy (or at least joy among those who have a stake in the deal — whatever it is, they are not yet saying — a universe which does not yet include…

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I recently testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. One of the other witnesses was Peter Darbee, CEO and President of PG&E Corporation. In his testimony, he argued that his company had no special interest in the energy rationing fight because California had adopted the “decoupling” policy which ensured that his firm was able to make as much revenue by “not selling” electricity as by selling it.

This idea—supported by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Amory Lovins, and many…

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On C-SPAN last night, I was watching “Prime Minister’s Questions”—the wonderful British institution in which the Prime Minister answers questions, both from his sometimes supporters and from the opposition. One question dealt with the adequacy of housing in Britain—the questioner arguing that far more money must be spent to provide housing for the poor. Prime Minister Blair responded by arguing that a balance was needed between private housing and “social housing.”

Frederick Hayek once noted that the growing use of “social”…

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Americans eat more junk than many other peoples, although the gap is diminishing, and many other Western countries are beginning to catch up to the United States in their obesity rates.

The greater American tendency to eat junk food may ironically be partly the result of our obsession with the health risks and imperfections of perfectly ordinary foods, which leads us to see no difference between such foods and truly unhealthy food. People often erroneously believe that baked potatoes, hamburgers, pizza,…

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In the latest installment of what has become an increasingly sorry drama, the European Union’s Ambassador to the United States, former Irish Prime Minister John Bruton, has written to Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). His goal in the February 22 letter is “to put the facts before you,” claiming that “incorrect or incomplete information has been presented about the European Union (EU) climate policy. In particular, this concerns the EU’s achievements to date by comparison to achievements in the…

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Today’s Globe and Mail reports that Canadian environmental groups may soon succeed in getting the Province of Ontario to ban the use of lawn pesticides used for “cosmetic purposes.” They’ve managed to get such bans in the Province of Quebec as well as in dozens of cities, including Toronto and Halifax. Their success is part of a larger campaign to rid the world of man-made chemicals—without regard to the impacts—no matter how bad. For further insights on their efforts see this…

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Freeborn John (good name for a good blog) has a post up remembering the excesses of British labor unions before Thatcher. As he notes, these excesses have been airbrushed out of internet accounts as those unions have been romanticized. Lest we forget…

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A story in the Washington Post sports section points out that General Motors VP Brent Dewar is pushing NASCAR to switch from gasoline to ethanol. Well, if he was lobbying for the change because of safety reasons, or economics, or for mileage or for performance reasons, one might not carp. But it seems he has a messianic desire to change the world. Dewar was based in Brazil in the 90s and witnessed its transformation from a petroleum-based economy to an ethanol…

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