In a political move that didn't attract as much attention as it deserved, a California judge last week signaled that man-made global warming (mythical though it is) will be used by the courts to force social change -- change that is decidedly unfriendly to freedom, business and capitalism.As you read the excerpt below from the L.A. Times Greenspace section, keep in mind that I'm no friend of Wal-Mart. Nevertheless, the prospect of judges using the lens of socialist politics to interpret scientific claims and then to order Americans around is really frightening.
A San Bernardino Superior Court judge on Thursday rebuffed Wal-Mart’s plan for a super center in the desert city of Yucca Valley, partly on the grounds that the giant retailer failed to take measures to reduce its contribution to global warming.
Environmentalists had been pressuring Wal-Mart to install solar panels to provide electricity for its proposed 184,000-square-foot store. But the retailer contended that the estimated 7,000 metric tons per year of planet-heating greenhouse gases that would result from the store’s operation was too insignificant to require such measures under the California Environmental Quality Act.
Judge Barry Plotkin, relying on contrary evidence from state air quality officials, ruled otherwise on Thursday, in a case that signals a growing legal consensus that climate change must be considered by businesses and governments promoting new developments...
