Kenneth P. Green
Encyclopedia
Kenneth P. Green, an environmental scientist by training, studies public policy at the American Enterprise Institute
American Enterprise Institute
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a conservative think tank founded in 1943. Its stated mission is "to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism—limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and...
(AEI), where his primary focus is on energy and climate policy.
Education and Career
Green holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from University of California, Los Angeles; a Master of Science in Genetics from San Diego State University; and a Doctorate of Environmental Science and Engineering (D.Env.) from University of California, Los Angeles.Green’s career has centered on the study of environmental policy: after completing his doctoral degree in 1994, he moved into the world of public policy think tanks, from which he rarely strayed. From 1994-2002, he studied environmental policy at the libertarian Reason Foundation in California. After Reason, he spent three years studying Canada / U.S. environmental policy at the fiscally-conservative Fraser Institute, in Vancouver, British Columbia. On returning to the United States, Green spent a year as Executive Director of the Environmental Literacy Council before joining the American Enterprise Institute in 2006.
Widely published, Green’s work has appeared in National Review, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Post, Washington Post, Pittsburg Post Gazette, and the Los Angeles Times, among others. He has written numerous policy analyses, popular magazine articles, opinion columns, book chapters, and a textbook for middle-school students entitled Global Warming: Understanding the Debate. Green is a frequent guest on talk radio and television news programs, and has given presentations on public policy to student groups, business groups, as well as legislative staff. He has testified before local, regional, and national regulatory and legislative bodies, including repeated appearances before committees of both houses of the United States Congress such as the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and U.S. House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.
Green also served on a number of advisory and review boards. From 1996-1999, he was a member of the California REACH Commission, and 1996-2001 he was a member of the California Departmental Transportation Advisory Committee. He has twice served as expert reviewer for publications of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group, including a 1999 special report on aviation and the global atmosphere, and a 2001 volume on the science of climate change.
Views and Opinions
Green describes himself as “a free-market environmentalist,” and believes that most environmental problems stem from an absence of properly defined and enforced property rights, and/or insufficient societal wealth to afford environmental protection. He has testified that while he cherishes the environment, and believes it worth protecting such environmental protection must not come at the expense of other cardinal American values such as property rights, due process, economic freedom, individual liberty, and personal responsibility.On climate change, Green has repeatedly observed that he believes the climate is warming, and greenhouse gases are partially responsible. He is, however skeptical of computer models that contain unsubstantiated assumptions about positive feedback loops, and he has expressed contempt for computerized projections of future or regional climate change, comparing them to “computerized horoscopes.” Green has testified that as no technology currently exists to significantly and affordably reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the near term, he favors an agenda of adaptation and resilience-building. To hedge against the risk of more extreme climate change, Green favors increased research into geoengineering
Geoengineering
The concept of Geoengineering refers to the deliberate large-scale engineering and manipulation of the planetary environment to combat or counteract anthropogenic changes in atmospheric chemistry The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded in 2007 that geoengineering options, such...
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With regard to energy policy, Green considers himself an “energy realist,” and does not believe there are, at present, technologies that can substantially or affordably substitute for conventional energy sources such as coal, nuclear power, oil, and natural gas. To the extent that such alternatives do exist, Green has shown they pose environmental and economic challenges, and should not be hastily adopted without due regard to the potential for adverse and unintended consequences.