In setting out a plan to make Manhattan better prepared for extreme weather, Mayor Bill de Blasio is delivering a sorely needed message on climate change. Usually, when extreme weather like a hurricane hits, we hear the same old calls for drastic carbon cuts. Yet these are both ineffective and hopeless at helping victims of hurricanes.

Around the world, thousands of children are striking for climate action. Spurred on by young Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, they want to convince adults to “panic.” The campaign is supported by adults who feel the same way: Thunberg has been welcomed to the World Economic Forum in Davos, has delivered a TedTalk, and has been lauded in Rolling Stone and The Guardian. Thunberg’s undeniable passion is directed at perhaps the only challenge in the world where a call for everyone to panic would be received with so little critical thought.

Across the rich world, school students have walked out of classrooms and taken to the streets to call for action against climate change. They are inspired by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who blasts the media and political leaders for ignoring global warming and wants us to “panic.” A global day of action is planned for March 15. Although the students’ passion is admirable, their focus is misguided. This is largely the fault of adults, who must take responsibility for frightening children unnecessarily about climate change. It is little wonder that kids are scared when grown-...

With general elections looming, national parties are setting out their competing visions for boosting India’s economy. Much of this agenda includes increasing farmers’ incomes. The agricultural sector is vital, and it is clear that reforming agricultural markets and setting up electronic mandis (e-mandis) would make a significant difference. In a world-first effort to help India undertake the important work of prioritising programmes that achieve the most good, NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog asked India Consensus to undertake a fast-track analysis looking at 100...

Around the world, ever more countries and regions are promising to stop emitting carbon dioxide sometime in the future. The European Union is winning plaudits from green activists for aiming to be “carbon neutral” by 2050. Cities from Adelaide to Boston to Rio de Janeiro are announcing similar goals, with Copenhagen saying it will get there already in 2025. Such promises should be greeted with a healthy dose of skepticism. Copenhagen, for example, will likely miss its target, even after spending twice the planned cost of going carbon neutral. In fact, we can learn a lot about the emptiness of...

As the U.S. and China are locked in a major trade dispute, the White House is renegotiating existing free-trade agreements to turn them into "managed trade" agreements, and the mood has turned against freer trade around the world. Yet, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel both made calls for more free trade and multilateralism.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declared last week that “the world is gonna end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change.” The freshly minted congresswoman skewered anyone who’d want to talk about the cost of global-warming policies, given the looming doomsday. Yes, her full remarks made it clear she only meant that the world would begin to end in 12 years if we don’t act. But she was still wildly wrong. Yet AOC was just saying what many people believe. Shallow, apocalyptic reporting on global warming has made us all panicky, more likely to embrace poor climate policies and less likely to...