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"The Skeptical Environmentalist": A Conversation with John Tierney and Bjorn Lomborg

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:22:00 EDT

"The thing that blows my mind is that we spend so much money on feeling good," says author and activist Bjorn Lomborg about "feel-good" environmentalist measures like recycling and wind turbines, "I would like us to do stuff that actually works."

The Reason Foundation hosted a conversation with Lomborg and the New York Times' John Tierney at the Museum of Sex in New York City, where they discussed how free trade and innovation could help alleviate the suffering of the third world and improve the environment, if only people could be convinced these "unsexy" ideas were of greater benefit than sorting the glass and plastic in their garbage.

Lomborg, the author of "The Skeptical Environmentalist" and the subject of the documentary film "Cool It," is also the founder and director of the Copenhagen Consensus, a Danish think-tank focused on finding the "the best ways for governments and philanthropists to spend aid and development money."

For more Reason coverage of the Copenhagen Consensus go here, here and here.

About 27 minutes.

Produced by Anthony L. Fisher.

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Matt Ridley on Ideas having Sex, Free Trade, & Apocalyptic Science w/ Reason's Kennedy

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 00:00:00 EDT

“[Some people] simply don’t believe that when two people trade one is not ripping the other off,” exclaims Matt Ridley, zoologist and author of The Rational Optimist. "A big problem with the world is that human beings find positive sum games difficult to understand."

Ridley sat down with Reason's Kennedy to discuss his thoughts on free trade, ideas having sex and the irrationality of apocalyptic science.

About 7 minutes.

Filmed by Anthony Fisher and Jim Epstein. Edited by Joshua Swain.

For more Ridley and Reason.tv click here and here.

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ManBearPig, Climategate and Watermelons: A conversation with author James Delingpole

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EDT

James Delingpole is a bestselling British author and blogger who helped expose the Climategate scandal back in 2009. Reason.tv caught up with Delingpole in Los Angeles recently to learn more about his entertaining and provocative new book Watermelons: The Green Movement's True Colors. At its very roots, argues Delingpole, climate change is an ideological battle, not a scientific one. In other words, it's green on the outside and red on the inside. At the end of the day, according to Delingpole, the "watermelons" of the modern environmental movement do not want to save the world. They want to rule it.

Approximately 10 minutes.

Produced by Paul Feine and Alex Manning.

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The Top Five Environmental Disasters that Didn't Happen

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 09:00:00 EDT

For this year's Earth Day celebration, Reason.tv is proud to present "The Top Five Environmental Disasters that Didn't Happen." The environmental movement began in 1962 when Rachel Carson published her best-selling book Silent Spring. And ever since, chicken littles have warned us about imminent environmental disasters that ultimately didn't happen.

We all worried needlessly about acid rain, expanding deserts and global cooling, but these failed predictions weren't quite dire enough to make our list. To find out which prophecies of doom did make our list, you'll need to watch Reason.tv's "Top Five Environmental Disasters that Didn't Happen."

Approximately 7 minutes.

Produced by Feine, Manning, Jensen, Bragg, Swain, Epstein and Gillespie. Narrated by Melissa Palmer. Special thanks to Ron Bailey and Julian Morris.

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Tilting at Wind Turbines: Should the Government Subsidize Renewable Energy?

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 09:30:00 EST

Switching from conventional sources of electricity like coal and natural gas to renewables like wind and solar, our elected leaders tell us, will reduce pollution, advance renewable technology and spark a green jobs revolution.

Is renewable energy really a green pathway to a brighter economic future? Or is it nothing more than a heavily subsidized impossible dream?

To learn more, we spoke with Cal State Fullerton economist Robert Michaels and Mark Tholke, an executive at enXco.

Approximately 6.5 minutes.

Produced by Paul Feine and Alex Manning.

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Skeptic Michael Shermer on Atheism, Happiness, and the Free Market

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 00:00:00 EST

Whether they're intelligent design advocates, psychics, or 9/11 truthers, Skeptic Magazine's Founding Publisher Michael Shermer says the world is full of people who believe weird things.

Shermer sat down with Reason.tv's Tim Cavanaugh at Libertopia 2010 in Hollywood to discuss why self-help gurus aren't the key to happiness, what the New Atheist movement hopes to accomplish, why liberals accept evolution but not free markets, and why he switched from global warming skepticism to acceptance.

Approximately 9 minutes. Camera by Adam Hawk Jensen and Zach Weissmueller. Edited by Weissmueller. Music by Bjorn Fogelberg (Magnatune Records).

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Kurt Loder Discusses Congressional Gridlock and Censure on CNN's Parker Spitzer

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 00:00:00 EST

Reason Magazine's contributing film critic Kurt Loder joins a panel on CNN's Parker Spitzer to discuss political deadlock and censure in the post-election Congress. Airdate: December 3, 2010.

About 7 minutes.

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Nick Gillespie on FOX News' Red Eye discussing 10:10, Rick Sanchez, and Violence Motivated by Internet Comments

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EDT

Nick Gillespie, editor in chief of Reason.tv and Reason.com, appeared on FOX News' Red Eye. Air date: Oct. 2, 2010.

Approximately 40 minutes.

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Reason Weekend 2010: Robert Poole and Adrian Moore on High-Speed Rail Boondoggles

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:00:00 EDT

Politicians love to promote large-scale transit projects, and the Obama administration is no exception.

The president's "Livability Initiative" strives to ensure that "transportation goals are met while simultaneously protecting the environment, promoting equitable development, and helping to address the challenges of climate change." But as Robert Poole, director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation, and Adrian Moore, vice president of research at Reason Foundation, explain, the "Livability Agenda" largely consists of trying to push people out of their cars and onto trains and out of the suburbs and into cities.

Poole and Moore dismantle the idea that a centralized, national transit system will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create a more "livable" future. There is, they demonstrate, no way such a system will ever be economically viable or able to actually meets its ridership goals.

Approximately 45 minutes.

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This presentation was part of Reason Weekend, an annual conference held by Reason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes Reason.tv. This year's event took place in New Orleans from April 15-18 in New Orleans.

Bjorn Lomborg & The Copenhagen Consensus: What's The Best Way to Live With Global Warming?

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:00:00 EDT

What's the best way for humanity to reduce suffering from man-made global warming? No individual has been a stronger voice for rational cost-benefit analysis on this issue than Bjorn Lomborg, the head of Copenhagen Consensus Center, and author of The Skeptical Environmentalist and Cool It! On Thursday, September 3, 2009, Lomborg stopped by Reason's DC HQ to discuss the latest iteration of his ongoing project with Reason magazine science correspondent Ronald Bailey.

The Copenhagen Consensus Center's expert panel of five top economists, including three Nobel laureates, has concluded that greater resources should be spent on research into climate engineering and green energy. They also concluded that the least cost-effective way to deal with climate change is carbon taxes. Such carbon taxes are the economic equivalent of cap-and-trade carbon rationing schemes like the Waxman-Markey bill being considered by Congress and which are being negotiated by the U.N.

The expert panel consisted of Nobel laureate economists Thomas Schelling, Vernon Smith, and Finn Kydland. They were joined by University of Chicago economist Nancy Stokey and Columbia University economist Jagdish Bhagwati. The panel considered and ranked 21 ground-breaking research proposals by top climate economists on the basis their benefits and costs in dealing with global warming. Ultimately they ranked only the 15 proposals below.

Approximatley four minutes. Shot by Dan Hayes and Meredith Bragg; edited by Dan Hayes.

Related video, from Reason's 40th anniversary gala in Fall 2008: Bjorn Lomborg Says Cool It!

Watch the full length interview below.

MIT Climatologist Richard Lindzen on the politiciziation of global warming science

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EDT

MIT's Richard Lindzen, one of the most-respected climatologists on the planet, speaks to the second annual International Conference on Climate Change in New York. Lindzen warns that scientists who embrace global warming alarmism are not necessarily good researchers. And that skeptics of global warming are not necessarily good researchers either.

The point, he argues, is to stay focused on the facts as they can be determined and to follow the science, not the political debate.

For more on Lindzen's talk and the conference, read Reason science correspondent Ronald Bailey's dispatches here.

International Conference on Climate Change: Rep. Tom McClintock on the contradictions of green policy

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 09:00:00 EDT

At the 2nd annual International Conference on Climate Change, Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) warns against that "radical global warmongers are now enacting" in the Golden State and elsewhere.

In 2006, he notes, California called for a 25 percent reduction in man-made carbon dioxide emissions by 2020--something that could not be accomplished even by junking every car on the state's roads. At the same time, the state legislature called for $40 billion in infrastructure improvements, an undertaking that will release massive amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.

Such contradictory policies are common when it comes to agriculture, winemaking, ethanol and more, says McClintock, and will lead to a greatly weakened economy in California and elsewhere, all in the name of fighting exaggerated effects of climate change.

Read Reason science correspondent Ronald Bailey's dispatches from the conference here.

Watch highlights of Czech and European Union President Vaclav Klaus' opening address here.

Global Warming: Risks and Consequences

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:55:00 EST

Few topics generate more heat than global warming and possible policy solutions to increases in the average global temperatures. Indeed, the options bandied about range from doing nothing to applying planet-wide restrictions on all aspects of energy consumption and technology.

While Nobel Prize winner and former Vice President Al Gore and many others favor the latter category of solutions, there are diverse and wide-ranging ideas that incorporate markets, new technologies, and an appreciation for economic growth as the best way not only to help the poor in the developing world but to deal with any issues posed by global warming.

Last fall, at the Reason in DC conference, one of the most strongly attended and memorable panels was titled "Climate Change: Risks and Consequences" and featured Lynne Kiesling, a senior lecturer in economics at Northwestern University, proprietor of the blog Knowledge Problem, and an expert in retail electricity markets; Ronald Bailey, reason's longtime science correspondent and author of, among other books, Liberation Biology: The Moral and Scientific Case for the Biotech Revolution and ECOSCAM: The False Prophets of Environmental Apocalypse; and Fred L. Smith, Jr., the founder and president of Competitive Enterprise Institute.

What follows here is full video of the Reason in DC panel, which was moderated by reason editor in chief Matt Welch (then with The Los Angeles Times). The video, roughly 40 minutes total, is split into four sections. Each speaker talked for roughly eight minutes; those presentations were followed by a spirited question-and-answer period with the audience--and with fellow panelists.

Part One: Introduction by Matt Welch and comments by Lynne Kiesling: Part Two: Comments by Ronald Bailey: Part Three: Comments by Fred L. Smith, Jr.: Part Four: Question-and-Answer Period:

Discuss this video at reason's Hit & Run blog.

Minnesotans for Global Warming

paul.feine@reason.tv (Paul Feine) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:06:00 EST

Finally, a breath of cool, fresh air in this heated debate.

And, as it turns out, these guys are serious.

Global Warming Doomsday Called Off

paul.feine@reason.tv (Paul Feine) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:07:00 EST

Doomsday Called Off (2004, Denmark) takes a critical look at global climate change.

Calling out Al

ted.balaker@reason.tv (Ted Balaker) — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 08:11:00 EDT

Al Gore is sure that global warming is a crisis, and regularly claims that the debate is over. Many prominent folks disagree, but Gore refuses to debate with challengers. Why?

Bonner C. Cohen has an idea:

Gore's reluctance to go toe-to-toe with global warming skeptics may have something to do with the - from the standpoint of climate change alarmists - unfortunate outcome of a global warming debate in New York last March. In the debate, a team of global warming skeptics composed of MIT scientist Richard Lindzen, University of London emeritus professor of biogeology Philip Stott, and physician-turned novelist/filmmaker Michael Crichton handily defeated a team of climate alarmists headed by NASA scientist Gavin Schmidt. Before the start of the nearly two-hour debate, the audience of several thousand polled 57.3 percent to 29.9 percent in favor of the proposition that global warming is a "crisis." At the end of the debate, the numbers had changed dramatically, with 46.2 percent favoring the skeptical point of view and 42.2 percent siding with the alarmists.

TCS Daily piece here .

Video of debate here .