Global warming and the environment

Ron Paul has stated that he's not convinced global warming is caused by humans. Paul also has some unconventional ideas for improving the environment:

Pollution as property rights violation
Ron Paul is a strong advocate for property rights, and this includes the right to not have your property polluted. His definition of property rights violation includes contamination of water supplies, wafting smoke, and particulate matter, trespasses that have only in recent decades been recognized as property rights violations by the U.S. court system. Paul supports making it easier for regular Americans to successfully sue polluters through the courts, instead of having to be reliant on the federal bureaucracy to stop the pollution. He does not support a return to the environmental conditions of the industrial revolution, and strongly criticizes the governments of that time for allowing such pollution to occur. (More on this topic at Grist that I found via Green Piece Blog)

Local activism
There is a perception that it is the federal government's responsibility to handle all environmental issues. So if a person wants to make a difference in the environment, they have to be able to influence the federal bureaucracy. How intimidating! Ron Paul believes less federal intervention would encourage local programs - which are much more accessible to people who care about the environment. In his interview with Grist (linked above), Paul cites the cleanup of industrial pollution done by the city government of Pittsburgh as the model he would like the rest of the country to follow.

Paul's model is to enable people to better fight pollution that affects them, and emphasizes local government over federal government. Because he votes against environment regulation at the federal level (he believes it serves only the politically well-connected, not the average person), Paul scores poorly with environmental watchdog groups - 5% from the League of Conservation Voters (this stat from OnTheIssues). But discussing the merits of the approach is just an academic exercise: implementing this vision is not part of Paul's goals as President (in the unlikely event of his election). As he told Grist, "I'm trying to stop the war, and bring back a sound economy, and solve the financial crises, and balance the budget." That's plenty to fill up a four-year term in office.

There are ways a Paul presidency would definitely help the environment, however:

Hemp
25% of the world's insecticides are applied to cotton crops, and the U.S. is a major world producer of cotton. Industrial hemp, a cousin to marijuana, is also known as "weed" because it grows so easily with no insecticide applications. Growing industrial hemp is currently illegal in the United States. Ron Paul supports removing the regulatory barriers to this environmentally-friendly alternative to cotton.

Eliminating oil subsidies
Oil companies are taxed at a lower rate than other corporations. The U.S. Department of Energy does research and development for oil companies at taxpayer expense. And other tactics are employed to help oil companies - Earth Track goes into more detail. These subsidies have the effect of making alternative energy sources artificially uncompetitive.

The federal government has attempted to compensate for preferential treatment of the oil industry by subsidizing ethanol - which is only one of many potential alternatives to oil. Wouldn't it be easier to figure out the most economical energy alternatives if the market weren't clouded with complex and competing government subsidies? Ron Paul supports this leveling of the playing field.

Forcing consumers to pay the true, unsubsidized price of oil would lower demand. Lower consumption of oil is the best way to fight global warming.

Military energy use
Ron Paul supports using our military to protect America - he supported the war in Afghanistan to overthrow the state supporters of Osama bin Laden.

But the U.S.'s attempts to spread its ideals at gunpoint are huge wastes of our energy resources. The military-industrial complex benefits at the expense of the country as a whole. The huge amount of oil consumed in the war in Iraq, and our military presence around the world, drives up the price of oil. Because oil is a non-renewable resource, long term oil prices are only going to go up. But a Paul presidency would stop military wastage, slow down the depletion of oil reserves, and give the market more time to implement alternatives.