Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom finds the good news in the coming global recession:
In fact the only upside of all this is that the massive slow-down in economic growth will rapidly cut the growth rates of CO2 emissions. Pollution is tightly linked to the level of economic activity, so that a few years of negative growth would lead to reductions in pollution levels not seen since the 1970s. It seems ironic that the greed of Wall Street may have inadvertently achieved what millions of well intentioned scientists, activists and politicians have failed to achieve—a slowdown in global warming.
Me: It should also be pointed out that the economic slowdown has helped drain the energy, so to speak, from the global-warming issue. Now it's "drill, baby, drill." Measures that potentially limit economic growth aren't going to be too popular during a global economic slowdown. Fact is, polls show voters become more skeptical of government during tough economic times.
Tim of NC @ Oct 10, 2008 11:16:52 AM