All Entries Tagged With: "Development"
The Fat Lady Doesn’t Sing – Yet
by Einar Du Rietz You get Tosca instead. It’s a pity I could not use the brilliant headline from this article: Apocalypse Not, by Matt Ridley, in Wired Science. It sums up a lot. “Over the five decades since the success of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962 and the four decades since the success of [...]
Increasing Resources
by Einar Du Rietz Oil prices might go up and down, and as for the price of petrol, in most of Europe it’s a matter of taxes. When I was a kid, in the 70′s, I was told there was some sort of Oil Cricis, and then with everything happening in the Middle East and today it’s [...]
A Cold Playground
by Einar Du Rietz Ask me about a Doom Sayer or Dr Killjoy, and I’ll direct you to Greenpeace. First, the problem was that the poles were melting (they are not, in any lasting way) and that the polar beers faced extinction (the population is increasing). Then, the prospect of drilling for gas and oil [...]
Honor as Due
by Einar Du Rietz “Welcome to the United Nations. It’s your world”, reads the top banner. Thank you very much, but I’ll stick to the part that belongs to me, while – also – doing my modest share in trying to persuade other people to please not make a mess of the rest of [...]
More Than Rio
by Einar Du Rietz The Rio circus has barely started and already, reports are streaming in on plans for international taxation schemes, close to police power for the UNEP…believe me, the list will be longer. For regular reports from our team in Rio, check out www.cfact.org . Meanwhile, in Europe, the environment ministers don’t want [...]
The News That Never Were For Real
by Einar Du Rietz …but very well could have been, as so many people – including yours truly – believed in, was the appointment of the dictator Mugabe as UN boss for “tourism“. The apparent truth, as we all know now was that UN Tourism had urged world leaders to promote tourism in their countries. [...]
Happy Earth Day Humans
by Einar Du Rietz Only weeks after the peculiar, entirely symbolical and possibly dangerous Earth Hour gimmick, it’s now the 42′nd Earth Day. Hard to be against the Earth, but I’ve never understood the tendency to use these events to suggest an ongoing conflict between the earth and humanity. CFACT International President David Rothbard comments: “Celebrate them [...]
They Don’t Want To Hurt You – They Just Want Your Money
by Einar Du Rietz The heroic boy scouts collected money, went to a village in deepest Africa and helped develop a well. A few month later, excessive use had dried it up and the final result was an extension of the desert. Examples of unintended consequences (and sometimes plain stupidity) in development aid are numerous, some [...]
More Hot Innovations
by Einar Du Rietz Few things make me as happy as innovative solutions to environmental, and thus human, problems. The most recent innovation that caught my eye was the prototype for Ezystove, an an ultra simple stove, now being tried in Namibia. Production will probably take place in Namibia and Kenya, and the idea is [...]
Innovation Saves The World It Makes Go Round
by Einar Du Rietz I love a sunny story and the most recent one I stumbled upon, cherished in the environmental movement, is a recent innovation – still under development – of a new method to turn toxic textile.factory effluent into clean water. Go for it, Maria Jonstrup! One of the most disturbing ingredients of [...]
Lighten Up – Again
by Einar Du Rietz The tradition of lighting a candle, or a fire, to guide travellers and visitors is probably as old as the tamed fire. With the invention of electricity and the light bulb, it also became more convenient and safer. Since some years back, another – imposed – tradition is the so called Earth Hour [...]
High Energy
by Einar Du Rietz Yesterday, I witnessed a courageous team save lives by clearing the roof tops from snow and ice. There has already been casualties this year, caused by falling ice, so I regard these fellows as the heroes of the season. It took – skilled and expensive – manpower, but heavy equipment, including a lift [...]
Making good science decisions
We live in a world where the leaders of African nations prefer to let their citizens starve to death rather than import genetically-modified food grains DENNIS AVERY I can’t help but praise Michael Specter’s new book: Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives. Specter warns that we live [...]
Global Warming Out Debated
Oxford Union Chooses Economic Growth Over Climate Change Debate Win for CFACT Advisor Lord Christopher Monckton Last week the Oxford Union, one of the world’s premier debate societies, chose economic growth over climate change by a vote of 133-110. The vote by students at an elite U.K. university illustrates the continued shift of public support [...]
And Now For the Good News
by Einar Du Rietz How splendid in this often pessimist debate, to get the chance to present some good news! According to the global health statistics from WHO, things are going in the right direction, in some cases remarkably well. Since 1990, infant mortality has decreased by 30 percent. Malnutrition is going down, access to drinking [...]
