There is also the constant conflating of climate policy with climate science in order to make subjective and ideological policy choices seem as if the science dictates those choices. But science informs policy, it does not provide objective answers to policy questions. However, those who disagree with the climate policy choices favored by extremists are labeled with offensive terms like deniers.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute rejects climate policies that assume Americans and humans all over the world must sacrifice their quality of living, be guilted into radical life changes, and give up on improving their standard of living in the name of fighting climate change. Even if the United States no longer existed, there would be little to no meaningful impact on global temperatures. Therefore, the myriad of extreme policies are all costs and no gain.
Using the force of government to impose policies that severely hurt humans today, especially the poor, without any meaningful benefits is not just foolish but indefensible. And when such policies are advanced, the proponents of those policies should always be expected to explain how their policy choices would meaningfully affect global temperatures. When they are unable to provide answers, which will be the case, their policy choices should be quickly dismissed.
The best way to deal with any genuine climate concerns is to remove government obstacles that hinder innovation, reduce wealth, and undermine prosperity and opportunity. Economic liberty benefits Americans generally, and at the same time, it is also the world’s best climate policy. After all, the wealthiest and most prosperous nations are far more likely to develop solutions to such problems than other nations.
Featured Posts
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Europe’s heat wave tragically demonstrates the need for air conditioning
Western European nations take a very different approach from the United States on many issues — immigration, defense, welfare, energy, health care, and more.
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RCP8.5: Climate establishment officially retires extreme scenario (Part II)
Part I can be found here. Victim of its own success? Perhaps to save face or even boast of being right…
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RCP8.5: Climate establishment officially retires extreme scenario (Part I)
Thanks to the scholarship, courage, and perseverance of a handful of independent researchers, notably Roger Pielke, Jr., Justin Ritchie, and Hadi…
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Newsletter
Vol. VI, No. 11
Politics Japan, Denmark Parliaments OK Kyoto Protocol Japan’s House of Representatives approved legislation on May 21…
Op-Eds
Campaign ExxonMobil Caters To The Greens
Before its cataclysmic fall, Enron had become the darling of the environmental movement. The company tirelessly pandered to environmentalists to bolster its green image…
Op-Eds
Foreign Entanglements: Dumping The Rome Treaty Raises Further Questions
The Bush administration has formally informed the United Nations of U.S. withdrawal from the Treaty of Rome. That agreement, signed by a departing President…
Newsletter
Vol. VI, No. 10
Politics U.S. Out of Kyoto For A Decade – At Least There is no chance that the United States…
Op-Eds
Greenhouse Road To Ruin: Bad Regulations In Cali
A bill careening down the legislative turnpike in California threatens Americans' freedom of mobility everywhere. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” />…
Newsletter
Whatever Happened to Global Warming?
The Frontiers of Freedom Institute U.S. Senator Malcolm Wallop (ret.) Chairman The Science…
Op-Eds
Heed Hillary’s Herald
Will Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) intercede with Sacramento politicians to protect the California marketplace for pickup trucks, minivans, and SUVs? Senator Feinstein is not widely…
Op-Eds
Ice Shelf Collapse Triggers Debate
In February and March, an ice shelf known as the Larsen B ice shelf in the Antarctic Peninsula collapsed, leading many to raise once…
Newsletter
Vol. VI, No. 9
Politics Senate Passes “Energy” Bill Loaded with Global Warming Policies On April 25, the Senate overwhelmingly passed comprehensive energy legislation by…
Op-Eds
Cali’s Kyoto: Working Off A Bad Model – Corrected
View The Correction To This Article Undaunted by the mess they made of California's electricity marketplace, Sacramento politicians…
News Release
Energy Bill Joins Senate Hall Of Shame
Washington, D.C., April 25, 2002 — The energy bill passed by the Senate today will do nothing to increase energy supplies but will…
Op-Eds
California Scheming
The Washington Post first reported internal memos revealing that the vocal “global warming” movement and its 1997 Kyoto Protocol were fruit of a stealthy and…
News Release
Senators May Support Small Business Greenhouse Gas Reporting Requirements In Energy Bill
Washington, DC, April 24, 2002-Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) may support provisions being debated and voted on the Senate floor on Thursday that would…
News Release
Senators Snowe, Collins to Ask Poland Spring Water be Registered as “Climate Change Pollutant”
Washington, D.C., April 24, 2002 — Senate staffers cite Maine Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins as supporting legislation calling…
Op-Eds
Controlling Hypocritical Authority: Gore’s Expertise
Former Vice President Al Gore published an opinion piece in this Sunday's New York Times, “The Selling of an Energy…
Op-Eds
IPCC’s ex-“Political” Scientist
Environmental activists are attacking the Bush administration for orchestrating the ouster of an American scientist, Robert Watson, as chairman of the…
News Release
Rejecting ANWR Not in Best Interest Of Country
Washington, D.C., April 18, 2002—“The Senate has rejected opening ANWR to oil and gas exploration on the basis of utterly dishonest arguments from Senators Kerry,…
Newsletter
Vol. VI, No. 8
Politics Cool Winds Blowing In Canada Canadian ratification of the Kyoto Protocol continues to recede into the future, as provincial opposition…
News Release
Senate Should Drop Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Registry
Statement of Myron Ebell<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Director of Global Warming Policy, Competitive Enterprise Institute …
News Release
Senate Should Open Arctic For Exploration Now
Washington, D.C., April 8, 2001—The issue of whether to allow oil and gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is expected to be…
Newsletter
Vol. VI, No. 7
Politics Alberta to Propose Kyoto Alternative The province of Alberta, Canada will propose a greenhouse gas reduction plan as an alternative…
News Release
Marlo Lewis Joins CEI As Senior Fellow
Washington, D.C., April 1, 2001—The Competitive Enterprise Institute is pleased to announce that Marlo Lewis has rejoined its team of policy analysts as…
Newsletter
Vol. VI, No. 6
Politics Japan Decides to Ratify, but Compliance is Doubtful Japanese government ministers agreed at a March 19 meeting on a ten-year…
Newsletter
Vol. VI, No. 5
Politics European Union Agrees to Ratify Kyoto The European Union’s environment ministers agreed on March 4 to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. …
Newsletter
Vol. VI, No. 4
Politics Bush Offers Lukewarm Plan President George W. Bush outlined his Global Climate Change and Clear Skies Initiatives in…
Op-Eds
Fools Rush In
The Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) just issued its annual “Economic Report of the President,” including a chapter on environmental policy. The report's language sent…
Newsletter
Vol. VI, No. 3
Politics<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Bush Administration Tip-Toeing Toward New Policies The New…
Op-Eds
Outside View: Caught En Flagrente Kyoto
It was the Washington Post that was first to expose internal Enron Corp. documents revealing the failed energy giant's disturbing relationship with one of the…
Op-Eds
Rush Hour
In a June 11 Rose Garden speech, President George W. Bush detailed his plan to address the perceived threat of man-made global warming. Wisely, the…
Newsletter
Vol. VI, No. 2
Politics Enron Fallout Hits Global Warming Enron Corporation’s spectacular downfall has begun to affect the ongoing debate over U.S. global warming…
Newsletter
Vol. VI, No. 1
Politics Japan Gets Cold Feet Japan, the host of the 1997 negotiations that culminated in the Kyoto Protocol, may now…
Op-Eds
Kyoto Through The Backdoor
Desperately seeking their Sally Field moment (“You like me! You really like me!”), with the likes of the New York Times and environmental pressure…
Op-Eds
Assisted Economic Suicide
A White House proposal under final consideration, for possible imminent release, would create a national inventory of certain naturally occurring gases — such as carbon…
Newsletter
Vol. V, No. 26
Politics Bush Administration Searches for Alternatives to Kyoto The Bush Administration is actively seeking an alternative strategy to the…
Op-Eds
Outside View: The choice: Kyoto or WTO?
Mid-November brought us reports from two international negotiations, whose sole common thread appeared to be each took place amid tight security in Muslim countries. These…
Op-Eds
Model Behavior: EPA Promotes False Climate Scares
Horner Op-Ed in Tech Central Station: The Environmental Protection Agency is telling the Northeastern United States to be very afraid. “Climate change” will…
Newsletter
Vol. V, No. 25
Politics<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Administration Considering Climate Policies After a delay caused…
Op-Eds
Insecurity Blanket: Greens Preparing Kinder, Gentler Guilt Campaign
Horner Op-Ed in Tech Central Station September 11 brought to the fore numerous realities that in our comfort we had sublimated, including the…
Study
Free Market Environmentalism: Protecting the Environment Via Private Property
Full Document Available in PDF There is an alternative…
Newsletter
Vol. 5, No. 24
Politics<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Canadian Government Split on Kyoto Dissension over whether to…
Newsletter
Vol. V, No. 23
Politics<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> The WTO and Kyoto While Kyoto watchers have…
Op-Eds
Punxsutawney Protocol: “World Reaches Warming Pact” Again, Only Not Really
Establishment-press reporting of Kyoto “global warming” treaty negotiations would embarrass even Bill Murray's character in the movie Groundhog Day. They laughably trumpet the same nonachievement,…
Op-Eds
Energy-Policy Jujitsu: Using 9-11 To Block Bush’s Proposal To Increase Our Energy Security
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle is using the September 11 terrorist attacks to block President Bush's proposal to increase our energy security. (If this sounds…
Op-Eds
U.S. Shouldn’t Seek Energy Independence
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have raised fears about U.S. dependence on Middle Eastern oil. It seems that nearly everyone believes that if the United…
Newsletter
Vol. V, No. 22
Politics<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Will Anything Happen in Marrakesh? New episodes of…
Op-Eds
A “Hole” Lot of Alarmism Should Be a Lesson in Marrakech
Scary autumn tales about the Antarctic ozone “hole” have become an annual media ritual that treats the phenomenon of ozone thinning as an ominous threat…
Op-Eds
Environmental Terrorists Deserve No Special Treatment
There is no shame in believing that those among the Left who most profess their “caring”, for animals, the environment, and other non-human “causes” are…
Newsletter
Vol. V, No. 21
Politics Politics Japan Gearing Up To Ratify Kyoto Japanese government officials announced…
Newsletter
What’s Wrong With Regulating Carbon Dioxide Emissions?
Full text available in PDF Format What’s Wrong With Regulating Carbon Dioxide Emissions? …
Newsletter
Vol. 5, No. 20
Politics Politics EU Bows to Industry Pressure The European Union has been devising an emissions trading scheme to…
Staff & Scholars
Sam Kazman
Counsel Emeritus
- Antitrust
- Automobiles and Roads
- Banking and Finance
Marlo Lewis, Jr.
Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Energy
- Energy and Environment
Ben Lieberman
Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Consumer Freedom
- Energy
Jacob Tomasulo
Policy Analyst
- Climate
- Energy
- Energy and Environment
Kevin D. Williamson
Writer in Residence
- Climate
- Energy and Environment