E-waste, Auto Bailout and Climate Science
Activists oppose exportation of used electronic and computer components, or “e-waste”.
Detroit auto companies start spending their $17.4 billion in bailout funds.
Journalist Lawrence Solomon debates the state of climate change science, with surprising results.
More headlines: listen to the LibertyWeek podcast.
1. ENVIRONMENT
Activists oppose exportation of used electronic and computer components, or “e-waste”.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Analyst Dana Joel Gattuso on how government and industry are dealing with the high volume of e-waste:
“The real problem is for lawmakers who, based on misplaced fears, have banned TVs and PCs from municipal landfills and now don’t know where to put them. Mandated recycling is not the answer. The costs, ultimately passed on to consumers, are staggering—$500/ton of e-waste to recycle versus $40/ton to landfill. ‘Eco-design’ requirements will cripple technological innovation, and substance bans will unleash a host of unintended health and environmental risks. There is good news. Manufacturers are moving on their own to recycle their products, and they’re doing it better and cheaper than government. Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Gateway, and IBM are just a few of the many manufacturers operating their own recovery programs, recycling over 160 million pounds of e-waste a year.”
2. BUSINESS
Detroit auto companies start spending their $17.4 billion in bailout funds.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Center for Entrepreneurship Director John Berlau on how the government is standing in the way of a cheaper solution:
“During the negotiations for the multi-billion dollar bailout being announced [recently], an option again apparently came up that might have gone a long way toward strengthening General Motors and Chrysler’s viability that wouldn’t have cost taxpayers a dime – a merger between the two of them. But also once again, the idea was quickly shot down. The companies didn’t give a reason, but more than likely it was the hurdles of antitrust rules. The Detroit News recently quoted an antitrust expert saying that even in their current dire straits, a merger review would take at least a year, and even then it may not pass muster, because of the supposed ‘dominance’ of the combined company of the light truck market.”
3. SCIENCE
Journalist Lawrence Solomon debates the state of climate change science, with surprising results.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Analyst Doug Bandow on the question of whether “the science is settled” on global warming:
“Global warming is a tough issue for laymen. Learned people strut about saying that the science is conclusive, done, finished. The world is destined for disaster. But embarrassing contrary peer-reviewed studies then float by, as independent experts pull the curtain back, revealing the machinations of the alarmist lobby. Rather like the Wizard of Oz, Al Gore & Co. say pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, whooping and wheezing about the end of the world. If the science really is settled, you’d think the alarmists would leap at the chance to prove it. But Lawrence Solomon recently found just the contrary. When pressed on the issue, his alarmist opponent ran in the other direction.”
Listen to LibertyWeek, the CEI weekly podcast, here.