Sanity Check

Billions of dollars are flowing into climate finance, but how much of that money represents new investment, and how much is existing spending simply relabeled as climate action?
In this episode, Dr. David Legates follows the money behind global climate finance, the Inflation Reduction Act, and international development aid. Drawing on data from the OECD and Our World in Data, he examines how much money governments and private investors are directing toward climate initiatives, where those funds go, and how much actually reaches developing nations.
The episode also explores how climate funding increasingly overlaps with traditional development priorities, including healthcare, education, nutrition, and infrastructure. With more than half of climate-tagged bilateral aid treating climate change as a secondary objective, are governments creating new funding streams or simply rebranding existing development programs?
What does the data reveal about the scale of climate spending, and what are the consequences for other development priorities? Follow the money and examine the numbers behind the global climate finance industry.
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Hypocrisy in climate politics raises questions about fairness, accountability, and the standards applied to public officials. In this episode, Dr. David Legates examines the controversy surrounding Justice Samuel Alito’s recusal from a Supreme Court case involving climate litigation against oil and gas companies, alongside the Senate’s rejection of legislation aimed at restricting congressional stock trading. Why do some officials face demands for impartiality while others appear exempt from similar expectations? And how should Christians respond when political opponents apply inconsistent standards? Drawing on history, political philosophy, and Scripture, Dr. Legates challenges listeners to consider whether fighting hypocrisy requires adopting an opponent’s tactics or holding fast to Biblical principles of integrity, righteousness, and overcoming evil with good.
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Our work is entirely supported by donations from people like you. If you benefit from our work and would like to partner with us, please visit www.cornwallalliance.org/donate.

Can Christians glorify God through conventional agriculture, or does faithful stewardship require regenerative or small-scale farming? In this episode of Sanity Check, Dr. E. Calvin Beisner responds to a Christian farmer who feels discouraged by claims that conventional agriculture is incompatible with Biblical stewardship.
Dr. Beisner examines the tradeoffs between conventional and regenerative agriculture, asking how farmers should weigh land, labor, capital, environmental impacts, and food production when evaluating different agricultural methods. He explains why no single farming method should be treated as inherently Christian and why faithful stewardship requires farmers to consider the particular land, resources, and constraints they face.
Dr. Beisner also recommends resources for Christians seeking a balanced perspective on agriculture and encourages farmers to pursue their vocations with excellence while continuing to improve their stewardship of God’s creation. Whatever agricultural methods they use, Christian farmers can glorify God through their work and serve their neighbors by helping provide the food people need.
https://cornwallalliance.org/is-conventional-agriculture-incompatible-with-the-christian-worldview/
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Our work is entirely supported by donations from people like you. If you benefit from our work and would like to partner with us, please visit www.cornwallalliance.org/donate.

What does Diet Coke have to do with America’s energy supply? In this episode, Dr. David Legates explores that question through a surprising comparison from James Taylor of the Heartland Institute. Taylor’s Diet Coke analogy exposes the flaw in politicians’ “all-of-the-above” approach to energy: when expensive sources enter the electricity mix, consumers can end up paying more for power while receiving less reliable service.
As coal and natural-gas plants close, electricity demand continues rising from data centers and other energy-intensive industries. Meanwhile, policymakers are investing in wind, solar, batteries, hydrogen, offshore wind, and other alternatives while treating fossil fuels as a problem rather than a source of reliable energy. Dr. Legates examines what those choices mean for electricity prices, grid reliability, taxpayers, and ratepayers—and why America’s energy policies could leave households paying more to keep the lights on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEXOVoyyo7c
https://epsa.org/understanding-the-costs-of-integrating-energy-resources-in-pjm-analyzing-full-cycle-levelized-costs-of-electricity/

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Our work is entirely supported by donations from people like you. If you benefit from our work and would like to partner with us, please visit www.cornwallalliance.org/donate.

For nearly two decades, the EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding has served as a legal foundation for federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. Its history begins with the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, continues through the Obama administration’s Endangerment Finding, and extends through the greenhouse gas regulations adopted under subsequent administrations.
In February 2026, the Trump EPA rescinded the Endangerment Finding as it applied to motor vehicles and repealed the federal greenhouse gas standards that followed from it. In September, EPA finalized a major repeal of greenhouse gas requirements for fossil-fuel-fired power plants while proposing to rescind the remaining greenhouse gas findings and regulations governing the power sector.
What does all of this mean for federal climate regulation?
In this episode, we trace the legal history behind the Endangerment Finding, examine the scientific and regulatory arguments surrounding it, and explain how a provision of the Clean Air Act became the foundation for decades of federal greenhouse gas regulation. We also examine what the 2026 EPA actions actually changed, what remains in place, and what Congress, the courts, states, and future administrations could still do.
The Endangerment Finding has been at the center of the legal battle over greenhouse gas regulation for years. Understanding its history helps explain why its reversal represents such a significant shift in federal environmental policy—and why the future of that policy remains unsettled.
https://www.epa.gov/climate-change/endangerment-and-cause-or-contribute-findings-greenhouse-gases-under-section-202a

https://apnews.com/article/epa-power-plants-trump-coal-gas-climate-cac1c2c75f8656d8eaf5f0a240edae15

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Our work is entirely supported by donations from people like you. If you benefit from our work and would like to partner with us, please visit www.cornwallalliance.org/donate.