Climate Rationality: From Bias to Balance

by Jason S. Johnston

Overview

Most environmental statutes passed since 1970 have endorsed a pragmatic or 'precautionary' principle under which the existence of a significant risk is enough to trigger regulation. At the same time, targets of such regulation have often argued on grounds of inefficiency that the associated costs outweigh any potential benefits. In this work, Jason Johnston unpacks and critiques the legal, economic, and scientific basis for precautionary climate policies pursued in the United States and in doing so sheds light on why the global warming policy debate has become increasingly bitter and disconnected from both climate science and economics. Johnston analyzes the most influential international climate science assessment organizations, the US electric power industry, and land management and renewable energy policies. Bridging sound economics and climate science, this pathbreaking book shows how the United States can efficiently adapt to a changing climate while radically reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108401753
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	08/19/2021
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 1.34(d)

About the Author

Jason Scott Johnston is the Henry L. and Grace Doherty Charitable Foundation Professor of Law and Director of the Olin Program in Law and Economics at the University of Virginia Law School. He has been awarded a Bosch Fellowship at the American Academy of Berlin and a Simon Fellowship at the Property and Environment Research Center. Johnston has also served on the Board of the American Law and Economics Association, the Searle Civil Justice Institute, and the Social Science Grant Review Panel of the National Science Foundation. His research has appeared in journals such as the Journal of Law, Economics and Organization and the Yale Law Journal, and he is the editor of the Institutions and Incentives in Regulatory Science (2012).

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; Part I. The Costs of Precautionary Policy: 2. The endangerment game; 3. The precautionary principle: what it does and doesn't do; 4. EPA's newfound role in regulating automobile mileage; 5. 'It will bankrupt you' – using environmental regulations to end the mining and use of coal in the United States; 6. The clean power plan, the rule of law, and EPA's takeover of state and regional electricity systems; 7. Renewable power and the reliabilty and cost of electricity; 8. Renewable power subsidies and mandates: harming today's environment and punishing the poor; 9. Spinning the tort liability roulette wheel; Part II. The Other Side of the Story: the Structure, Process and Output of Climate Science Assessment Institutions and the Science they Neglect: 10. But is it true? The case for taking a critical look at the economic and physical science underlying estimates of the benefits of ghg emission reduction; 11. 'Born in politics': the rise of the climate change science production and assessment complex; 12. Settling science and propagandizing for action: the structure, process and products of the climate science production complex; 13. Recent observed climate change in longer term perspective; 14. Beyond co2: causes of regional climate change that the IPCC has ignored; 15. Projecting future climate from computer models and far, far distant earth history; 16. The precautionary social cost of carbon; Part III. Toward Rational Climate Policy: 17. Adapt and prosper; 18. The surprising sahel; 19. Selected policy implications.

Editorial Reviews

'Johnston’s comprehensive and lively treatment of climate change, climate change policy, and climate change politics is a welcome contribution - a terrific resource for the non-specialist who wants to think critically about the challenges posed by climate change and the efforts to ameliorate it.' Wally Thurman, William Neal Reynolds Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics, North Carolina State University

'Jason S. Johnston's Climate Rationality is the definitive indictment and takedown of subjective climate ‘authorities’ like the IPCC and the various US ‘Assessments’ of climate change. Johnston's work is so comprehensive that he may well be the historic figure who singlehandedly kills the climate bogeyman.' Patrick J. Michaels, Past-President, American Association of State Climatologists

'Professor Johnston has provided a much-needed, rigorous independent assessment of the climate issue. He has documented, as he writes, ‘climate assessments produced by IPCC and the USGCRP produce biased science advocacy rather than the balanced, objective consideration necessary for rational policy design.’ The implications of that advocacy on policy are far reaching, and the book discusses its consequences in detail. This book should be read by not only policymakers, but scientists in disciplines who use climate information in their impacts studies.' Roger Pielke, Sr, Professor Emeritus, Colorado State University, Research Scientist, CIRES, University of Colorado, Boulder

'Johnston’s exhaustive analysis shows that governments and courts alike need to realize the IPCC is not what it appears: longstanding procedural flaws have allowed it to function as an advocacy group while claiming to be a science authority. This book is a critical contribution to understanding and fixing the problem.' Ross McKitrick, Professor of Economics, Departments of Economics and Finance, University of Guelph, Ontario

From the Publisher