Richard W. Rahn is an American economist and columnist for the Washington Times, a conservative newspaper based in Washington, DC. He was a former Senior Fellow for the Cato Institute, and is the current Chairman of the Institute for Global Economic Growth and Improbable Success Productions.
Rahn on Climate Change
In 2021, Rahn wrote an article titled “The ‘non-crisis’ reality of climate change” for the Washington Times. In the article, Rahn discusses sea levels, and describes how people are able to “claim land from the sea despite rising sea levels,” and how islands are not shrinking or getting smaller amidst rising ocean levels. He reviews the positive impact of rising C02 levels in the atmosphere, claiming that “plants tend to like the warmth, water, and C02 that global warming has provided.”
In the same article, Rahn claims that “cold climates are more dangerous for people than warmer climates,” and that “the number of deadly wildfires, tornadoes and hurricanes has not increased.” It’s worth noting that he refers to two sources to support his claims for each topic: Indur M. Goklany and Judith Curry, who both deny the global impacts of climate change.
In 2008, Rahn wrote an article titled “Real intelligence failures” for the Washington Times. Rahn describes how, in his opinion, “the most costly intelligence failure of all time…was the failure of many leading climate model builders to be modest enough about their predictions.” Rahn claims that, despite all climate prediction models, the Earth has been getting cooler since 1998, quoting environmentalist economist Dennis Avery: “The Earth’s warming from 1915 to 1940…occurred too early to be blamed on human-emitted C02… Most recently, the climate has stubbornly refused to warm since 1998.”
In 2005, Rahn wrote an article titled “Who’s afraid of scientific methods?” for the Washington Times. Rahn says that there are many arguments about the origins of climate change, especially when the question of it being man-made arises. Rahn states that climate change will be “beneficial,” citing “more rainfall, longer growing seasons” and “less disease” as some of the pros, reflecting some of the advantages during the Medieval Warming Period from 900-1300 A.D.
See Also:
Koch Brothers
Washington Times
Climate of Denial