the other side

It's somewhat ironic that in a desperate plea to avoid anything that might infringe on carbon emissions in any way, the WSJ editorial page and fellow carbonistas are now heralding Bjorn Lomborg's "don't worry, be happy" solution:

Mr. Lomborg's solution is to avoid discredited cap-and-trade programs, in which developing nations limit economic growth while they fruitlessly try to convince booming economies such as India and China to do the same. His alternative: "Let's focus on research and development. Let's focus on noncarbon-emitting technologies like solar, wind, carbon capture, energy efficiency and also, let's realize the solution may come from nuclear fission and fusion." He laments that the climate change issue has been demagogued by ideological groups on both sides, "and the ones who are making panicky or catastrophic claims simply have better press." At the end of the day, he ruefully acknowledges that potential progress and the sorts of solutions he advocates "are just boring things."

In essence, Lomborg proposes a solution deeply rooted in socialist precedent: we can't trust industry to come up with low-emissions products desirable to everyone including the Chinese and Indians--the principle behind cap-and-trade--therefore, we must throw a bunch of money at the problem hoping some of it might stick.

Of course as soon as Congress proposes to do just that, the carbonistas head straight to full opposition mode:

The White House and Senate Republicans opposed levying new taxes on energy companies at the time, and it is unclear if there are the required 60 senators in that 100-member chamber to block a filibuster of the legislation.

Next month, the other side™ will hold a meeting comprised of 59 speakers who have their own consensus. They all agree that they're old white men who long for the days when they could plot energy policy and carve up countries in the middle east while coming up with cutsey phrases poo-pooing conservation as merely a personal virtue in the privacy of Dick Cheney's office.