Blogs > Liberty and Power > A Modern Morality Play

Jun 1, 2007

A Modern Morality Play




Whatever the truth about man-made global warming, it has increasingly become the argument of choice to freeze progress. Read Mick Hume's essay on the current campaign to halt the growth of London's Stansted airport in Essex.


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Tim Sydney - 6/6/2007

The "morality play" view of greenhouse means only negative aspects of climate change are reported. There are of course good reasons why one could take a risk averse view of climate change, presumably stability and predictability make private and public investment decisions easier. Still climate change would seem to involve trade offs and not all are negative.

The moralistic perspective ensures "positive" aspects of climate change are greatly under-reported.

For example, recent scientific findings indicate (see here) that the planet, or at least, the northern hemisphere is getting greener. Northern forests are now more lush.

"...a growing season in Eurasia that is now nearly 18 days longer than it was before. Spring arrives a week early and autumn is delayed by 10 days. In North America, the growing season appears to be as much as 12 days longer."

In Holland "..(O)n average, during the last fifteen years, the growing season has been more than three weeks longer than in 1961-1990. In the period 1961-1990, the growing season lasted an average of 269 days. In the last fifteen years, the growing season has averaged 293 days, 24 days more than previously" (source)

Adding up to 8% to the growing season is not something to be sneezed at but it never rates a mention from climatological moralists.

The longer growing seasons is presumably a boon to mankind. I


Tim Sydney - 6/2/2007

It's not just a morality play either.

There is an interesting Australian article here that examines some of the class conflict aspects of the global warming debate. Interestingy enough free marketeers have generally been amongst the first to take the idea of class conflict under environmentalism seriously.

Also classical liberal theories of class conflict (or "caste" conflict as Mises used to call it) with their focus on ownership, control and use of the state seems particularly relevant and strong in this space, and the marxian derived versions particularly weak.