Andrew Stuttaford:
Unfortunately, if there’s one thing about which we can be reasonably certain so far as the “dimmer switch” approach is concerned it is that it works badly for the economy and over the course of the pandemic may well not to do much to save lives either. And on any reasonable risk-adjusted basis, it is a catastrophe. The best way to handle this virus is to learn to “live with it.” That doesn’t mean throwing caution to the winds, but it does mean understanding the concept of trade-offs. The same is true of climate change. Learning to live with whatever may be its effects doesn’t imply abandoning efforts at mitigation, but it does mean rejecting a Zimbabwean model, which will be as destructive as it is pointless.
Jazz Shaw:
As Gray points out, this pipe dream (pardon the pipeline pun) is not only unrealistic but literally dangerous as well. One-third of the massive volume of natural gas that America produces each year goes to generating electricity. The conversion of coal-fired plants to natural gas has been underway for more than a decade and it’s allowed us to vastly reduce our carbon footprint. There is no viable plan to replace all of the electricity generated in this fashion, so idling the natural gas plants would effectively starve the energy grid. The whole country would begin experiencing rolling blackouts after the sun goes down, just as is already happening in California.
Further, much of the rest of the natural gas we produce is piped into homes and businesses across the nation to power stoves, furnaces and other appliances. When you eliminate natural gas, those will all have to be converted to electric appliances, further driving up demand for electricity that would already be running short. This isn’t any sort of coherent American energy policy. It’s a suicide pact.
Here are my favorites from today's The Week in Pictures posted by Steven Hayward:
