More climate insanity from public radio- Living on Earth: Harvesting Emissions

SCHERR: One of the most interesting tidbits of knowledge that I learned in the past year is that if you take a cow and a calf in beef production in one of our intensive feedlot systems here in the U.S., that that pair of animals actually emits more in a year than a midsized car in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.

CURWOOD: So, you could either drive an electric car or quit eating meat. Is that what you're telling me?

SCHERR: Well quit eating meat or make sure that you eat meat from kind of a sustainable live stock production system.

Cold weather hurts some tropical fish farms

In addition to the citrus and strawberry damage, there's word that the cold temperatures killed tropical fish raised in ponds outside Tampa as well as damaged vegetables on farms near Immokalee.

Frustrated alarmist Ryan Avent » One Reason We’re Allegedly Doomed

This is the stuff that drives scientists mad. The science on the issue has only gotten clearer over time, and the outlook, in terms of likely temperature rise, has grown worse. I can’t believe that 41% of Democrats think humans aren’t causing warming. It’s hard enough to make the case for carbon taxes assuming voters understand the issue; if they don’t even realize the danger, then we are really and truly doomed.

Our political leaders have to see themselves as having the responsibility to educate voters on this. They have to make warming an issue. And this is why its so damaging for newspapers to believe that it’s ok to run “contrarian” takes on climate change, or to use “fake balance” — finding some wingnut denialist to counter the opinion of an actual climate scientist in the name of fairness. Opinions on the shape of the earth differ, it’s true, but we can say definitively that some are right and others wrong. If the stewards of the press can’t tell the story like it is, then I don’t know how we can hope to educate voters on the topic.

And obviously, the smart Republicans who know better but abuse this topic for political gain should be roundly pilloried. Denialism at this point is like racialism or communism — a debunked and dangerous pseudo-theory that deserve to be pushed to the fringes of the responsible political debate.

The Bellows » About

Ryan Avent is an economist, consultant, and writer living in Washington, D.C. In addition to this site, he is a regular contributor to The Economist’s Free Exchange, and a (somewhat less regular) contributor to Gristmill.