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March 25, 2011
'On what principle is it that when we see nothing but improvement behind us, we are to expect nothing but deterioration before us?"
Life expectancy is increasing by five hours a day. IQ keeps going up by three points a decade.Agriculture gets ever more productive, leaving more land to remain wild. Even economic inequality is decreasing, with poor countries getting rich faster than rich countries are getting richer. On the subject of climate change, Ridley has a similar set of detailed charts showing that sea level has been rising slowly for a long time, but it is not accelerating. The same with the retreat of glaciers. Overall global warming is proceeding slower than was predicted. Humanity has been decarbonizing its energy supply steadily for 150 years as we progressed from wood to coal to oil to natural gas. A few years ago it was thought that only 25 years of natural gas was left, but with the invention of hydrofracking shale gas, the supply is suddenly 250 years worth, and it is a hugely cleaner source than coal. -- Pro Commerce: Matt Ridley on commerce
Posted by Vanderleun at March 25, 2011 9:58 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.