Against Doomsdayism

From David Bahnsen, CIO and Managing Partner of The Bahnsen Group. He states his position much better than I can. Let’s just say we are in close alignment…

I disagree strongly with a lot of the environmental prescriptions of the left, and any pretense that a fossil-free world is even a possibility (apart from the vast death and destruction of entire societies of people).  However, I have always held fast to the notion that cleaner and lesser carbon emissions were a noble environmental aim, even if I insist on pursuing this behind a grown-up conversation about trade-offs.  I am not a climate denier, and have never understood the impulse to resist the idea that lesser carbon emissions are desirable.  That said, the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased substantially with the industrialization and economic progress of the planet, and no one I know wants to stop economic progress (well, no one I respect).  The key measure, therefore, must be “Carbon Emissions per Output” so as to weight the carbon relative to actual economic growth.  To see that number decline must be our aim, and decline it has!  In the U.S. alone, the number has dropped by 66% over the last fifty years, and globally it has dropped by 41%.  Technological improvements in production processes are fueling the way (see what I did there), and of course, greater use of natural gas.

You can read his investment missive called DC today here. (Note the link is to a specific issue, but I’m sure you can figure out the rest if you’re so inclined).