In an op-ed published today in the European edition of the Wall Street Journal, Kenneth P. Green, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and author of "Climate Change: The Resilience Option," wrote that the U.N. should no longer be involved in setting policy to combat climate change: "In the aftermath of the Copenhagen Climate conference, it is clear that the United Nations-driven process is a bust, and that any similar process requiring economic suicide and massive wealth transfers will go nowhere. It is long since time to drop this charade, take the question of climate change out of the hands of the U.N., and implement more reasonable policies."
Green suggested a roadmap beginning with "fostering the resilience of societies around the world in case climate disaster strikes." A key to that would be pushing development away from low-lying coastal areas such as New Orleans. And a roadblock to that is that "governments stand as insurance stop-gaps, allowing the uninsured to depend on grants to rebuild in vulnerable areas."
Green also said infrastructure should be privatized because "governments are dismal at maintaining infrastructure. They rarely establish revenue streams to keep up with repairs, nor do they set up systems to provide feedback on whether a particular road should be raised, or power-capability increased, or a water-treatment facility expanded."
