Another week of Trump monopolizing the news cycle, first with a typo and then by exiting the Obama administration’s Paris Climate Agreement. Rejecting the international agreement is not only a victory for American self-determination, but will improve the lives of the billions who were going to bear the real costs of another layer of government regulation. The following outcry from those in the scientific community ignores the basic fact that science – even if it comes to proper conclusions – dictates any and all policy solutions to the problem. As Ryan McMaken notes:
After all, the Paris Climate Agreement isn’t a scientific study. It’s a political document that lays out a specific public-policy agenda.
Agreement or disagreement with the accord might hint at one’s opinions about climate science. Or it might not. One can agree that climate change exists and that human beings have a large role in the phenomenon. Agreement on this matter, however, does not dictate that one must also agree with the political policies outlined in the Paris document.
The two are totally independent phenomena.
This post was published at Ludwig von Mises Institute on 06/02/2017.
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