Media Alert: Bill Bennett Show Tomorrow

For early risers, I’ll be on the Bill Bennett show tomorrow (Wednesday) morning at 8:05 eastern time, to talk chiefly about the Pope’s forthcoming encyclical on climate change. We’ve mentioned it here before and will be again, but for the meantime, take in Bjorn Lomborg in USA Today on what’s wrong with what we know so far about the forthcoming encyclical:

But the Pope after his letter is officially published, he should tread carefully. The climate policies of today will do little for the poor.

A cruel truth is that almost every significant challenge on Earth hits the poor more than the wealthy: hunger, a lack of clean drinking water, malaria, indoor air pollution. The question then is how we make the most difference for the most vulnerable.

A reasonable starting point is to listen to the world’s citizens. A United Nations survey of 7.5 million people found that many other issues are deemed more urgent. The top priorities were education, health, jobs, corruption and nutrition. Of 16 problems, the climate was rated the lowest priority.

One reason may be that today’s climate policies themselves have a cost, which predominantly hits the poor.

Cuts in electricity consumption require price hikes that hurt the worst-off and elderly. Relying on expensive green energy sources like wind and solar power makes electricity pricier and less available for those who desperately need it.

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