In this issue:
- 3 undeniable but little-known truths that will shape our energy future
- Best of Power Hour: John Christy on what climate scientists know and don’t know
- The Human Flourishing Project: How to guarantee progress
3 undeniable but little-known truths that will shape our energy future
Last night I spoke about the future of energy to the board and senior employees of an oil and gas company. My presentation focused on 3 undeniable truths.
- Despite claims that we are destroying the planet, Earth has been becoming a better and better place to live.
- Low-cost, reliable energy has enabled us to use high-powered machines to transform our naturally deficient and dangerous planet into an abundant and safe planet.
- Fossil fuels are the only energy production process that can provide low-cost, reliable energy for the billions that have it and the billions that don’t.
One point I raised regarding the first truth—that the world is getting better and better—is the widespread belief among supposedly educated people that everything is getting worse. For example, an Oxford University study cited in this valuable video by Tony Heller found that over 50% of the college educated adults surveyed thought that extreme poverty in the world is getting worse and over 30% thought it was staying the same. Here are some actual statistics about the rapidly improving world we live in.
- The share of people living on less than $1.90 per day decreased 32 percentage points from 42% in 1981 to 10% in 2015.
- Global GDP has risen more than 7-fold since 1960, with GDP per capita increasing 3-fold during that same period.
- Between 1960 and 2017, global life expectancy increased by two decades from 52 years to 72 years on average.
- Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births dropped from 64 in 1990 to 28 in 2018.
- The percentage of people using at least basic sanitation services went up from 55% in 2000 to 73% in 2017.
The more that advocates of energy can emphasize that the world is getting to be a better and better place for human beings to live, including safer from all manner of environmental threats, the more powerfully we can illustrate the incredibly positive role of fossil fuels.
Best of Power Hour: John Christy on what climate scientists do and don’t know
On this week’s Power Hour “best of” episode, I talk to climate scientist Dr. John Christy about what climate scientists know, don’t know, and why. Dr. Christy is a Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and Alabama State Climatologist.
I recently learned from this video on threats to “climate skeptics” that Dr. Christy’s office was the target of gunfire by activists. The attack on free speech and freedom of thought regarding energy and climate is becoming worse and worse. I will discuss it more in a future issue.
The Human Flourishing Project: How to guarantee progress
On the latest episode of The Human Flourishing Project I discuss what I have learned over the last year about how to guarantee progress on long, difficult project.
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Alex