Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math

A sobering article in Rolling Stone about Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math. Here’s a quick summary of the numbers (and yes, I realize that climate scientists are all in on the most elaborate conspiracy in the history of mankind).

The upper bound of any “tolerable” level of change is about 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). We hare already raised global temperatures by about 0.8 degrees Celsius, and the observed changes so far are pointing to far more damage than scientists had expected, so that even a 1 degree change may be too much. In any event, current models predict that we can dump another 565 more gigatons of CO2 into the atmosphere by midcentury “and still have some reasonable hope of staying below two degrees.” However, our proven reserves of fossil fuels–reserves that are already built in to the stock prices of companies like BP, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and others–are 2,795 gigatons. Why is this such a big deal?

Think of two degrees Celsius as the legal drinking limit – equivalent to the 0.08 blood-alcohol level below which you might get away with driving home. The 565 gigatons is how many drinks you could have and still stay below that limit – the six beers, say, you might consume in an evening. And the 2,795 gigatons? That’s the three 12-packs the fossil-fuel industry has on the table, already opened and ready to pour.

We have five times as much oil and coal and gas on the books as climate scientists think is safe to burn. We’d have to keep 80 percent of those reserves locked away underground to avoid that fate. Before we knew those numbers, our fate had been likely. Now, barring some massive intervention, it seems certain.

These numbers should provide some perspective on why the fossil fuel industry has been willing to invest so much in questioning the science. And sadly, the result has been political paralysis on this important issue.

We’re in the same position we’ve been in for a quarter-century: scientific warning followed by political inaction. Among scientists speaking off the record, disgusted candor is the rule. One senior scientist told me, “You know those new cigarette packs, where governments make them put a picture of someone with a hole in their throats? Gas pumps should have something like that.”

Given the current state of U.S. politics, I cannot see that–or any effective initiatives to combat climate change–happening any time soon.

Informe CAPDLC

While I was out of the country, the Comisión Asesora Presidencial para la Defensa de la Libre Competencia delivered its recommendations for strengthening Chile’s competition laws to President Piñera. The informe can be found here.

Perú

We just returned from a short family vacation to Cusco. Here are some photos.

I suppose this counts as a victory by Samsung

From a U.K. court ruling today that Samsung’s Galaxy Tablets do not infringe Apple’s design patents describing the shape of the iPad:

Samsung products are very thin, almost insubstantial members of that family with unusual details on the back. They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool. The overall impression produced is different.

via Samsung tablets not ‘cool’ enough to infringe Apple design, says UK judge – Computerworld.

NO La Película

NO La Película, opening in Chile on August 9

Nueva Guía de Operaciones de Concentración de la FNE and other developments

Catching up on some recent developments at the FNE. Last week, the agency released the draft of its new Guía de Operaciones de Concentración. The most significant changes include:

una modificación de los capítulos sobre riesgos unilaterales y de coordinación, y la incorporación dentro de los mismos de una nómina de factores informativos sobre los potenciales efectos asociados a una operación horizontal, actualizados según las mejores prácticas internacionales. Dentro del capítulo sobre contrapeso a los riesgos, se incorpora una modificación sobre el análisis de las eficiencias alegadas por las empresas, y un acápite sobre el poder de negociación de los compradores.  En lo relativo a mercado relevante, se reconoce que aquel puede tener una importancia menor tratándose de la determinación de riesgos unilaterales en mercados de productos diferenciados, y, finalmente, en lo concerniente a umbrales de concentración, se elevan los mismos, adecuándolos más a las particularidades de la realidad nacional.

NPR interview with Richard Posner

Great interview with U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner:

Posner expressed admiration for President Ronald Reagan and the economist Milton Friedman, two pillars of conservatism. But over the past 10 years, Posner said, “there’s been a real deterioration in conservative thinking. And that has to lead people to re-examine and modify their thinking.”

“I’ve become less conservative since the Republican Party started becoming goofy,” he said.

via Federal Judge Richard Posner: The GOP Has Made Me Less Conservative : It’s All Politics : NPR.

Calls for greater TPP transparency

The latest round of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations is taking place in San Diego this week. As I wrote in an earlier post, the proposed agreement is quite troubling in terms of both substance and process. The pact would affect policies on a wide range of subjects, including intellectual property rights, environmental protection, labor, professional licensing, government procurement, and regulations in the financial, healthcare, energy, telecommunications sectors. Yet the negotiations are taking place behind closed doors.

Re-imagining private damages actions in Chile

Javier Tapia, over at Regulación y Competencia has written another insightful post about the TDLC’s recent ruling in the Tecumseh case. As those of you keeping score at home already know, Tecumseh involved allegations of price-fixing between Whirlpool SA and Tecumseh Do Brasil Ltda, the major suppliers in the Chilean market for low power compressors used in the manufacture of refrigerators. The competition tribunal–known by its Spanish acronym as the TDLC–found that beginning in 2004, both companies began to participate in a global cartel, as well as a regional cartel that directly affected the Chilean market. The case was notable here in that it was the first instance in which a cartel participant (in this instance, Tecumseh) has taken advantage of the FNE’s recently-implemented leniency program and admitted its involvement in an unlawful conspiracy, and provided the competition authorities with information regarding the scheme, in exchange for a fine reduction. (Previously both Whirlpool and Tecumseh had confessed to other competition authorities–in the U.S., Canada, the European Union and New Zealand–to having colluded.) In this case, because Tecumseh was the first in line to approach the FNE and to provide the required assistance, it was eligible to receive a complete exemption from any fines under the leniency program guidelines.

Comentarios sobre Tecumseh: La aplicación extraterritorial de las normas protectoras de la libre competencia

Although I have been neglecting this blog for a while, I did just guest-write a piece (in Spanish more or less) at a far more interesting site, Regulación y Competencia, the blog of the Centro de Regulación y Competencia (Regcom) at the Facultad de Derecho of the Universidad de Chile. You can find the piece here. Be sure to check it out, and bookmark the Regcom blog, where you will find far more interesting commentary on a more consistent basis than you will ever get on this site.