Besides, pollution is part of nature, and is something human beings do with or without markets.

Consider: one of the biggest problems for today's burgeoning space industry is all the space junk floating around the planet, left by astronauts in the early stage of our Space Age. And these missions were nearly all government-funded and government-directed! I've read a number of articles on the problems of space junk, but none call it a market failure, naturally. But, also, I don't recall the articles calling this problem a government failure, either. People are awfully reticent about blaming things on government, but not about blaming things on "the market."

It's just human. The blaming.

And the pollution.

We do what we do. We make small changes in our behavior. And, barring a "methane burp" to destroy us all, we will likely adapt to a warmer world, with varying degrees of . . . wisdom.

Still, in this context of a warming climate, with a possible rise in sea levels (I'd bet inches, not yards), does it make sense to rebuild New Orleans back to its full size?

Many current follies seem awfully strange in the light of this new scenario. And if we can't stop current idiocies, like the federal flood insurance for beach mansions (which as John Stossel has noted helps rich folk most), what hope is there to change old practices that are not so patently idiotic?

You know, the practices that heat our homes, feed our stomachs, and allow us to move about on the planet we can't help but call home.