Free Republic

For all the money spent, nobody can say if the offsets have done much to alleviate global warming.... Without government regulation and mandatory caps on emissions, all that is left to drive offset sales is guilt and marketing. Offset companies charge what the market will bear. "How much are you willing to spend to feel good or to impress your neighbors?" asked Marland, of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. For Katy Hansen, a 29-year-old law school student, the answer was $429.99. She wanted to offset the travel of the guests to her May wedding in Madison, Wis., and paid San Francisco-based...

We in the news business often enlist in moral crusades. Global warming is among the latest. Unfortunately, self-righteous indignation can undermine good journalism. Last week's NEWSWEEK cover story on global warming is a sobering reminder. It's an object lesson of how viewing the world as "good guys vs. bad guys" can lead to a vast oversimplification of a messy story. Global warming has clearly occurred; the hard question is what to do about it. If you missed NEWSWEEK's story, here's the gist. A "well-coordinated, well-funded campaign by contrarian scientists, free-market think tanks and industry has created a paralyzing fog of...

Canada's premiers and territorial leaders held their annual meeting in Moncton this week. The main agenda item was global warming. And so it was that on Thursday, the leaders paraded to the microphone and pronounced themselves committed to a greener world. But instead of offering practical plans, they served up hypocritical rhetoric designed for voters back home. The worst offenders were Ontario's Dalton McGuinty and B.C.'s Gordon Campbell. Throughout the summit, Mr. Mc-Guinty did his best to paint Alberta as Canada's climate bogeyman. While never identifying the province by name, the Ontario Premier repeatedly stated that the biggest emitters of...