In Reaction to Sachs First Chapter

In Sachs' bool, "The Age of Sustainable Development", the first chapter talks about sustainable development goals and how we as a species attain such goals. The chapter takes into account that developed countries are more likely to intrepid the use of renewable energies as they have the capital necessary to investigate such sources of new energy. However, the chapter also takes into account the needs of developing economies, most notably India, who garner most of their energy from fossil fuels and don't yet have the necessary capital to invest in renewable energy sources.

Personally, I would define sustainability as having 0 impact on earth, and garnering all of our energy needs from renewable resources such as wind, solar, and hydro power

I personally would love to investigate the energy uses of 2 countries; Norway and Germany.

"The Bet" by Paul Simon, Book Review

Hoff

Derek Hoff, a Professor at the University of Utah wrote a review of Paul Simon's, The Bet. In his review Hoff gave a brief overview of the actual wager that the book about. He states that although Julian Simon won the bet as the metals decreased in price, he would have lost 63% of the time between 1900 - 2008. He states that although the radical points presented by the environmentalists created some unwanted backlash, they did get some things done such as bills to clean up both water and air in America. Hoff goes on to say that Simon also had some far reaching predictions such as the prediction that the human race can reproduce exponentially without fear of exhausting resources. He states that Sabin is fair to a fault and ignores the fact that eventually even technological innovation won't be able to keep up with an ever expanding population.

My own view

The Bet by Paul Sabin was a book that I thoroughly enjoyed. Not only did it outline the environmental concerns of the time, it delved deeper into the inception of partisan politics and the feelings of America and Americans during the time of the bet. I agree with Hoff's assertion above that Sabin was fair to a fault however, I believe that his fairness cuts both ways. It's true that Sabin did not expose some of the outrageous comments from Simon but he also failed to expose the intensely despicable character of Ehrlich. Ehrlich openly favored a restrictive and authoritarian America which would put luxury taxes on necessities such as diapers and having sterilization as a pre- requisite for trade deals. All while calling people who had been innovators "idiots and morons" (one example would be Norman Borlaug the inventor of scientific farming). I believe the book was interesting and informative but also flawed.

In response to the Politico Article; "Sources: Obama, China aim to formally join Paris climate pact ahead of G-20"

This article explains that both the US and China, the two biggest carbon producers in the world, are expected to announce a ratification of the G-20 climate agreement that they signed last year at the UN. These two countries account for more than half of the world's carbon emissions at 55%. On the election front the Clinton camp is heralding this as a major step forward for America and is touting her role in the agreement when she was Secretary of State. On the other side of this is the Trump camp which fears that this ratification will lead to massive regulations that will strangle America's businesses, especially those in the energy sector.

The authors of this piece, Andrew Restuccia and Eric Wolff, are American and are much more invested in this deal because it will directly affect them as well as the rest of the American public. However, this article (like most politico articles) is pretty straight forward in terms of presenting the facts and keeping personal opinions to a minimum.

In Response to the Politico Article, "Obama tightens fuel efficiency rules for trucks" by Alex Guillen

In his article, Alex Guillen discusses the new round of emissions regulations announced by the EPA under the Obama administration. These rules are specifically geared towards “freight-hauling tractor trailers, garbage trucks, buses, and the largest class of pick-up trucks.” These new regulations, combined with those already enacted, are estimated to “save U.S businesses more than $1.9 trillion in energy costs and cut oil consumption by 8.1 billion barrels over the lifetime of the vehicle.” The EPA estimates that, all together, these rules would “eliminate carbon dioxide equal to cars travelling 17.7 trillion miles, or running 2,145 coal plants for one year.”

I believe that this is a great step forward not only for U.S. energy independence but for the advancement of renewable energy. In order to meet the regulations set forth by the EPA car companies will have either develop more efficient engines, invest in zero emissions power (such as electric power), or both. Either way this helps to stabilize our economy in times where oil is scarce and helps us get one step closer to our ultimate goal of carbon neutrality. The author of this article doesn't really take a side although there is a slight inclination towards supporting these policy changes. Having said this, the article appears mostly neutral. 

In Reaction to Malthus & Neo - Malthusians

Thomas Robert Malthus, an English cleric who lived in both the 16th and 17th centuries declared that overpopulation of the world would soon lead to the doom of the human race. His claims were revived by Paul Ehrlich in 1970 with his book, The Population Bomb. In the book Ehrlich describes a world where increasing demand for food and resources leads to mass famine and worldwide crisis. Ehrlich, however, was rebutted by Julian Simon; an economist who believed that however large the population of Earth became technological innovation would be able to meet the demands of that population.

Personally, I agree with Simon as Paul Ehrlich's claims had been made before by Malthus and had amounted to nothing. Ehrlich is not accounting for the march of human progress towards the future and how problems will always exist, but where there is a problem there is also a solution. I'm less inclined to bet with Ehrlich against the human race in finding that solution.