In this issue:
- Interviews with Chuck DeVore and Patrick Moore on the California wildfires
- New California wildfire talking points on EnergyTalkingPoints.com
- New interview about Zac Efron’s “Down to Earth” Netflix series
Interviews with Chuck DeVore and Patrick Moore on the California wildfires
As dangerous, out-of-control wildfires continue to cause damage in California, the media are in full force trying to blame the situation on fossil fuels.
I believe that right now it is crucial to make two points about the energy news right now, above all.
1. The California blackouts were caused by “green” energy policies.
2. The California wildfires were caused by “green” forest mismanagement.
This week, I recorded two full Power Hours because there were two guests I really wanted to interview as soon as possible: Chuck DeVore and Patrick Moore.
Chuck DeVore, a Vice President at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, is a former California state assemblyman who has extensively studied the history of fires in California. When I read his terrific article putting today’s wildfires and blackouts in context, I knew I had to have him on.
Some of the questions we covered were:
- What is California’s climate like historically in terms of being prone to fire?
- How were forests and fires dealt with by natives prior to the Gold Rush?
- How were forests and fires dealt with subsequent to the Gold Rush?
- What policies have been most responsible for making Californians vulnerable to dangerous fires?
- How have logging policies affected vulnerability to dangerous fires?
- How have air quality policies affected vulnerability to dangerous fires?
- What are the most important policies to fix the situation?
- How can we as citizens get involved?
You can watch on YouTube or listen on Apple Podcasts.
I also interviewed Patrick Moore, ecologist and Greenpeace cofounder, who has extensive knowledge of forestry from his research and from his family business.
We covered:
- What are the top policy changes necessary to prevent dangerous, out of control wildfires (not the same as fires)?
- How does private vs. government ownership of land affect the likelihood of dangerous fires?
- What are the major drivers of dangerous, out of control wildfires?
- What places in the world have the best wildfire management?
- How have government policies changed for the worse in the US?
- How do you respond to claims that these fires are inevitable because of climate changes?
- Dr. Moore’s forthcoming book on invisible catastrophes.
You can watch on YouTube or listen on Apple Podcasts.
New EnergyTalkingPoints.com, new wildfire talking points
Late last week I launched a radically improved EnergyTalkingPoints.com website that is way easier to use.
It also features new talking points on the California wildfires.
Big thanks to reader Sasha Klein, a multi-talented engineer who volunteered to help me with the new site and did a great job.
Last week (before the new website went up) an influencer on Twitter with 280,000 followers (Undercover Huber) wrote
**ATTENTION: Congressional candidates/voters interested in energy policy** Given the blackout risk in California and Biden’s comments on Fracking, energy policy is likely to be a more prominent talking point over the next few days…(until another riot at least)
..I’d urge any Congressional candidates who follow me to to check out http://energytalkingpoints.com by @AlexEpstein
This is a well researched and footnoted collection of Tweet length talking points on energy policy, fracking, Biden’s plan & more. A great resource &@AlexEpstein may be able to assist you further if you get in contact. It’s not the easiest website to navigate but stick with it!
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with this site or Epstein in any way, and wasn’t asked to tweet it out. I found the resource, I’ve researched the sources and they check out, and the talking points themselves are incredibly clear, easy to digest and interesting
Keep spreading the word!
New interview about Zac Efron’s Down to Earth Netflix series
This week I appeared on the Brian Nichols Show to discuss Zac Efron’s popular new Netflix series, “Down to Earth”–focusing on an episode about Iceland and renewable energy.
Here’s the description:
Zac Efron made his splash in the docuseries genre at the end of the summer of 2020, having starred and produced in Netflix’s “Down to Earth”.
The series promised to “explore healthy, sustainable ways to live”, which piques the interest of the growing number of eco-conscious, young people.
However, it is in the solutions presented by Efron and the series that raises the concern of today’s guest, as today I am joined by noted American author, energy theorist, and industrial policy pundit, Alex Epstein.
Alex is the author of New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels. Alex joins the show to help highlight some key flaws in the approach Efron takes in his approach to offering top-down, government solutions to various problems identified throughout the series.
The first two episodes we focus on specifically dig into the energy sector (Iceland) and clean drinking water (France), where it is argued that government policies have been net positives for those respective communities and that their models can be applied here in the same manner.
Alex takes a different approach, offering a thoughtful rebuttal to the solutions offered by the series… but you’ll have to listen to find out more!
You can listen to the episode here.
Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter. Every week I am getting more positive feedback on EnergyTalkingPoints.com as well as top officials asking for help behind the scenes. Thanks as always to the Accelerators who help support the talking points project, the new Moral Case book, and other projects that help us spread pro-human energy thinking.
To Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Energy,
Alex