Author: rickpace1

The Cost of Carbon

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The peer-reviewed report finds that the true social cost of carbon is in fact more uncertain than the government’s $21 per ton estimate. The entire range of new estimates arrived at in the report, reaching as high as $893 per ton in 2010 and $1,550 in 2050, are all well above the government’s estimate, bringing into question prior analyses of the benefits of reducing emissions.

Comparing prior research on the cost of reducing emissions with the report’s new findings on the social cost of carbon, the report concludes that it is highly likely it is costing us more to do nothing about climate change than it would to adopt mitigation measures.

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Corporate Climate Change Action

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Franco Fusignani, CEO of New Holland Agriculture and CNH International, commented, “Climate change is the biggest global challenge of our age, and it has particular resonance in the emerging and high potential economies that we serve. Through this sponsorship we aim to contribute to Climate Action’s objective of providing a platform for an ongoing dialogue between business and governments, where international corporations such as ours can highlight solutions they are able to provide for tackling climate change.”

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House Republicans at Work on the Farm Spending Bill

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From the House Ag Spending Bill:

Directs the Agriculture Department to rewrite rules it issued in January meant to make school meals healthier. Republicans say the new rules, the first major overhaul of school lunches in 15 years, are too costly.

Forces USDA to report to Congress every time officials travel to promote the department’s “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” program, which supports locally grown food, and discourages the department from giving research grants to support local food systems. Large agribusiness has been critical of the department’s focus on these smaller food producers.

Prevents USDA from moving forward with new rules that would make it easier for smaller farmers and ranchers to sue large livestock companies on antitrust grounds. The proposed rules are meant to address the growing concentration of corporate power in agriculture.

Delays for more than a year new rules for reporting trades in derivatives, the complex financial instruments blamed for helping precipitate the 2008 financial crisis. A Republican amendment adopted Thursday would require the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which funded in the bill, to first have other rules in place to facilitate its collection of derivatives market data.

Prevents the FDA from approving genetically modified salmon for human consumption, a decision set for later this year.

Questions the scope of Obama administration initiatives to put calories on menus and limit the marketing of unhealthy foods to children.

Washington Post Article

American Crime Rate Declines

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There may also be a medical reason for the decline in crime. For decades, doctors have known that children with lots of lead in their blood are much more likely to be aggressive, violent and delinquent. In 1974, the Environmental Protection Agency required oil companies to stop putting lead in gasoline. At the same time, lead in paint was banned for any new home (though old buildings still have lead paint, which children can absorb).

Tests have shown that the amount of lead in Americans’ blood fell by four-fifths between 1975 and 1991. A 2007 study by the economist Jessica Wolpaw Reyes contended that the reduction in gasoline lead produced more than half of the decline in violent crime during the 1990s in the U.S. and might bring about greater declines in the future. Another economist, Rick Nevin, has made the same argument for other nations.

Maybe the EPA might actually be doing some good!

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