There is a real and growing prospect of an all-out trade war being waged in the name of climate change.
The struggle to generate international agreement on a carbon deal has created a desire to punish “free riders” who do not sign on to stringent carbon emission reduction targets. But the greater goals seem to be to barricade imports from China and India, to tax companies that outsource, and to go for short-term political benefits, destroying free trade.
This is a massive mistake. Economic models show that the global benefits of even slightly freer trade are in the order of $50 trillion — 50 times more than we could achieve, in the best of circumstances, with carbon cuts. If trade becomes less free, we could easily lose $50 trillion — or much more if we really bungle things. Poor nations — the very countries that will experience the worst of climate damage — would suffer most.
In other words: In our eagerness to avoid about $1 trillion worth of climate damage, we are being asked to spend at least 50 times as much — and, if we hinder free trade, we are likely to heap at least an additional $50 trillion loss on the global economy.
Bjorn Lomborg, “Costly Carbon Cuts: Proposed Strategies Would Hurt the Most Vulnerable”, The Washington Post, 2009-09-28
September 28, 2009
QotD: Gambling on CO2 reduction
Vikings get last-second TD to beat 49ers, 27-24
The Minnesota Vikings moved to a 3-0 record on the season with a squeaked-out victory against the San Francisco 49ers yesterday. I got to watch most of the game, until the two-minute warning, when Fox — or the CTV sports programmer carrying the Fox feed — switched over to the already-decided Patriots-Falcons game.
Minnesota appeared to have the game well in hand until the final play of the first half, when Nate Clemons scooped up a blocked Ryan Longwell field goal attempt and ran for the go-ahead TD. A huge momentum-changer, as the Vikings went from a potential 2-score lead to one point down. The stats were all in Minnesota’s favour, except for the only one that matters, the one on the scoreboard.
In his first regular-season home game with the Vikings, Brett Favre managed yet another fourth-quarter game-winning drive, this time connecting with recently signed wide receiver Greg Ellis.
The first five series of the second half: Three punts, Favre’s first interception, and a turnover on downs. The Vikings (3-0), who gained only 85 yards on Adrian Peterson’s 19 carries, still had three timeouts left and were able to force a punt. They got the ball back at their 20 with 89 seconds remaining.
“I didn’t say a whole lot,” Favre said. “I knew what I was thinking: We blew our chances.”
Well, not quite all of them.
The last play began with 12 seconds left, and Favre stepped forward in the pocket and slid to the right by design to buy time for his receivers to move in position. Instead of throwing a ball up for grabs, he figured he could get close enough to the line of scrimmage to fire a line drive that would be tougher to defend.
Lewis watched the quarterback’s eyes, and broke the other way — Favre said he didn’t even know who was running across the end zone — to find room near the right corner.
He caught his first pass from Favre, who completed six throws on that drive, and looked forward to the next one.
Random links of possible interest
- More on the ongoing ammunition shortage in the US, as manufacturers are still unable to produce enough to satisfy demand.
- Police at G20 take trophy photo including arrested protester handcuffed and kneeling in front of the group. H/T to Radley Balko.
- Voyeurs rejoice! What sounds like a report from the Journal of Spike TV reveals that a mere 10 minutes of ogling well-endowed women provides as much benefit to men as 30 minutes in the gym, as far as heart disease, high blood pressure and stress are concerned. H/T to Ghost of a Flea.
- New Zealand bans in-vehicle GPS navigation systems . . . but only if they’re running on a mobile phone. Non-phone based systems apparently don’t distract you with directions the way phone-based ones do. Or something.
- Detroit Lions fans love the Washington Redskins.
You know the stories about “they built ’em better in the old days”?
Here’s an interesting video from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), pitting a 2009 sedan against a 1959 model at a combined speed of 80 mph:
In the 50 years since US insurers organized the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, car crashworthiness has improved. Demonstrating this was a crash test conducted on Sept. 9 between a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air and a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu. In a real-world collision similar to this test, occupants of the new model would fare much better than in the vintage Chevy.
“It was night and day, the difference in occupant protection,” says Institute president Adrian Lund. “What this test shows is that automakers don’t build cars like they used to. They build them better.”
Even with the video evidence, not everyone will be convinced. This is my favourite quote from the Slashdot thread on the topic (I think the comment is offered in an ironic tone):
But then again, back in the 50’s we didn’t need all these fancy crumple zones, seat belts and air bags. Men were real men. Hell, I’ll bet you dollars to donuts any man from the 50’s driving that Bel-Air would have jumped right out of that wreck to help the crying sissy-boy with a cut lip driving that Malibu.
