ARI/ARC news — VOICES for REASON

Last week I spoke at the 13th annual Energy & Environment Conference and Expo in Phoenix. This is one the largest events in the U.S. devoted to energy and environmental issues, with over 650 speakers and more than 2300 attendees.

Marketing slogan: “650 speakers tackle solutions for USA’s energy independence and reducing carbon emissions.” Well, make that 649, because the gist of my presentation was to argue against the “solutions” that every other speaker had to offer.

As I told the audience attending my panel session, I was there to make the case for not doing anything about climate change—or, more specifically, for not imposing a massive regime of government controls, regulations, or market interventions aimed at restricting greenhouse gases in the name of allegedly fighting climate change.

Mine was definitely the most controversial talk on my panel session. I was even attacked as a “denier” by one of my co-panelists, the executive director of the American Solar Energy Society. But there were a number of people in the audience who came up afterwards to thank me for presenting a contrarian view that they felt was badly needed at this conference.

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As 2009 draws to a close, all of us at Voices for Reason wish you a festive and happy holiday season! Thank you for reading our commentary, and for sharing it with your friends, colleagues, or other contacts. We’ve appreciated all of your feedback and comments, and look forward to hearing more from you in 2010.

Our goal continues to be to bring you commentary informed by Ayn Rand’s distinctive philosophical system, Objectivism—and to analyze and explore the solutions these ideas offer to today’s political, economic and cultural debates. We strive to offer a unique perspective on what’s happening in the world, and why.

Our work is made possible by support from private sources, including individuals who share our vision of a future where individual rights, properly understood, are protected, leaving people free to pursue their lives and happiness. If you share our vision, please consider making a year-end contribution in support of the Voices for Reason blog. To make a contribution on-line, please visit the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights website.

We’re pleased to announce that you can now sign up to read Voices for Reason on Amazon Kindle devices. Once you subscribe, VFR posts will be auto-delivered wirelessly to your Kindle.

Here’s an item of potential interest for college students who’d like to study Ayn Rand’s corpus and philosophical system. The Ayn Rand Institute is accepting applications for its 2010 Summer Internship Program. The program runs in June and July 2010 in Irvine, CA. This is a paid internship for bright students planning on an intellectual career and who are interested in studying the philosophical foundations of liberty, among other topics. The internship is one among several programs for college students including essay contests, a comprehensive educational program in Objectivism, and campus club support.

CNBC just published a blog post by ARC’s Yaron Brook and me on Ayn Rand’s relevance to today. (Last I checked, it topped CNBC’s “most shared” story list.) The short answer:

Atlas Shrugged shows us an all-too-familiar pattern: Washington do-gooders blaming the problems they’ve created on the free market, and using them as a pretext for expanding their power. And more: it provides the fundamental explanation for why the government gets away with continually increasing its control over the economy and our lives.

I encourage anyone interested in learning more about the relevance of Atlas to today’s events to attend The Atlas Shrugged Revolution, coming up in September.

The Objectivist Academic Center is currently accepting applications for its Fall 2009 incoming class. Designed to provide a comprehensive and systematic study of the philosophy of Objectivism and the art of objective communication as well as an introduction to philosophy more broadly, this unique program is for those who are serious about advocating pro-reason, pro-individual rights, pro-capitalism views.

The program is especially designed for full-time college students, for whom there is next to no cost. Applications from professionals interested in pursuing careers as intellectual activists are also welcome.

For those who are not able to commit to a full program, the OAC offers an auditing option. Consider taking our “Seminar in Ayn Rand’s Philosophy of Objectivism.”

The final application deadline for this year is July 31, 2009.

If you’ll be in the Boston area in early July, consider attending the Ayn Rand Institute’s Objectivist summer conference. Voices for Reason writers Tom Bowden, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo will all be speaking on topics of interest for pro-reason, pro-individual rights advocates. Read the rest of this entry »

The deadline to apply for early admission to the Objectivist Academic Center is this Friday, April 17. The OAC undergraduate program is a comprehensive, systematic course of study in Ayn Rand’s philosophy and the art of objective communication. The four-year distance-learning program is designed to be taken in conjunction with the typical workload of a college student or working professional–and would be like earning a “minor” in Objectivism, if today’s universities offered such an option.

Courses are taught by professional Objectivist intellectuals such as Dr. Onkar Ghate and Dr. Keith Lockitch, and take place via teleconference or over the internet. All live classes are recorded for the benefit of those who cannot attend, and students receive personal feedback on tests and assignments from their instructors via phone or email.

Here’s what a couple of OAC students have said about the program:

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In addition to Keith Lockitch’s Global Warming Panel at UCLA on Monday night (see his post earlier today), there’s another event coming up that Voices for Reason readers might be interested in.

On Wednesday April 15, Elan Journo will be speaking at American University (School of International Service building, room 203, 8:30 pm). The title of his talk is “What’s at Stake in the Arab-Israeli Conflict?” With President Obama presently making overtures to an Iranian regime that continues to pursue nuclear technology and openly calls for the destruction of Israel, this question is as relevant as it’s ever been before.

For a complete list of talks (all open to the public), visit ARI’s events page for more information.

Next Monday I will be speaking about the destructiveness of policies aimed at cutting off fossil fuels and promoting “green energy.” I will be on a panel discussion at UCLA with Dr. Willie Soon of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Here is the description:

 It is now widely believed that man-made greenhouse gases are causing an unnatural warming of the earth that will have devastating consequences for human life. Environmentalists and politicians are pressing for severe restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions in order to prevent climate change. But what does the scientific evidence actually support regarding the causes of climate variability and the role of anthropogenic greenhouse gases? Are the predictions of catastrophic changes supported by scientific fact? Are governmental economic intervention and restrictions on emissions an appropriate policy response? Drs. Keith Lockitch and Willie Soon will address these critical issues in a lively panel discussion and afterward take your questions.

I’ve had the pleasure of appearing on several panels with Dr. Soon over the last year. He has excellent knowledge of the science at the center of the climate change debate. If you’re in Southern California, come check it out!