Environment and global warming Hayward has said, "we talk as though the earth is so fragile that, you know, we're endlessly insulting it in its doom." He has also said that "environmental concern rightly understood as now a settled middle class value in wealthy countries and will become more so in other countries around the world as they prosper and that's a key point." He supports the idea of an
environmental Kuznets curve, in which increased economic development constitutes the best way to help the environment. He believes that modern
developing nations such as
China could speed through the curve with
technological progress. and labeled
climate scientists analysts fearful of change as "climateers," "climatistas," "alarmists," and the "environmental Politburo." He has advocated that the world engage in
geoengineering projects to
mitigate global warming, such as spraying
saltwater in the air to increase
cloud cover over the
oceans and thus reflect back
sunlight. He advocates that the U.S. build more
nuclear power plants as another necessary solution. He created and starred in the documentary
An Inconvenient Truth...Or Convenient Fiction?, a rebuttal of many of the claims in
Al Gore's
An Inconvenient Truth, saying that while Gore is right about many things, he goes too far in predictions of doom. In 1994, he has co-authored an annual
Index of Leading Environmental Indicators (1996–2008), published by the Pacific Research Institute, issued each
Earth Day.
Ronald Reagan In his books about Reagan, Hayward argued that Reagan had the important
insight that the
Soviet Union was internally weak due to socio-economic problems, which distinguishes Reagan from most intellectual
conservatives in recent
American history. He stated that Reagan's foreign policy and domestic policy should be thought of as two sides of the same coherent worldview. He has referred to Reagan as, on net, more of a
tax cutter despite having enacted both tax increases and decreases because the marginal tax brackets shrunk. He praised Reagan for trying to reduce the size of the
federal government, cutting certain
social welfare programs, moving other programs to state control, expanding the
U.S. military, advocating
originalism, and making disarmament pledges with the
Soviet Union. He criticized Reagan for his conduct in the
Iran-Contra affair, concluding that Reagan let his emotions take over his judgment and wrongly paid for hostages via arms. He also criticized Reagan for declining to push for a
Taxpayer Bill of Rights until the latter part of his second term. Hayward estimated that Reagan ultimately failed to create a true
Constitution-based ideological movement to succeed him. He also described current conservative views of Reagan as too superficial and focused too much on style. ==Personal life==