Burying Crackpot Theories

Loved Josh’s recent cartoon, but I got to thinking this wouldn’t be allowed in Europe under the detailed rules of the Landfill Directive….

….unless it goes to the right type of landfill (one for non-hazardous waste) and it is treated first (to make sure all the paper is fully degraded and therefore will not produce methane and carbon dioxide in the landfill), and has all the right paperwork to show where it has come from, who has handled it, how it has been treated (and their certifications to enable them to do so). Is it any wonder Europe is in such a pickle?

Perhaps they should just send it to China.

Reuters reports:

China will take swift counter-measures that could include impounding European aircraft if the EU punishes Chinese airlines for not complying with its scheme to curb carbon emissions.

…

The EU’s cap-and-trade scheme will effectively in most cases charge airlines for emissions based on the length of the whole flight, rather than just the portion flown over Europe.

Critics say this amounts to interference with non-EU airspace. The EU says such action is needed to meet the bloc’s environmental targets and fill a vacuum left by international failure to deal with aviation emissions.

The head of the United Nations agency responsible for seeking a global solution to the row expressed concerns over the dangers of tit-for-tat retaliation between Europe and China.

Argh! A trade war is the last thing we need.

This has inspired Brian Micklethwait at Samizdata to explain the growth of Carbon Madness that is worth reading in full; here’s an excerpt:

Crackpot Theorists devise a Crackpot Theory. It unites them. It excites them. It excuses their shared belief that The Free Market Is Not Good Enough. They demand action from each other. They capture small parts of government departments that most people don’t give a damn about. They write small laws and get them passed.

You can guess how it grows…

Until, one day, the Crackpot Theorists pick a fight with a group of people powerful enough for their anger to actually matter, to the entire world.

At which point, the burden of proof, hitherto weighing down only upon the shoulders of the Critics, now descends upon the shoulders of the Crackpot Theorists themselves. Suddenly, they have to convince the world that they are right and that their Critics are wrong. They have to convince their Critics that their Critics are wrong, just to shut their Critics up from saying what the world now wants to be told, namely that the fight with those powerful and angry people is a fight that is not worth having.

But our Crackpot Theory says that we must have this fight! No matter what! The world must be saved, even if it is ruined in the process!

Let’s send them all to China.