Photo: Erland HowdenNatural gas obtained through "fracking" -- the increasingly common process of splitting open underground deposits with high pressure chemicals -- now has an even bigger strike against it than its potential to contaminate regional water supplies. Fracking, it turns out, yields more global warming per unit of energy than coal -- at least 20 percent more, and possibly up to twice as much. Those are the bombshell findings of a new study [PDF] released by a trio of scientists at Cornell University. It turns out that after the fracking process, when the high-pressure drilling fluid is flowing back …

My fellow Americans -- my fellow humans! Our planet is in deep, deep trouble. And it needs you to do your patriotic duty fighting climate change. Green Patriot Posters is a project dedicated to getting out that message -- by inspiring the modern equivalent of the iconic "Rosie the Riveter" poster from World War II. They've got a great new book out edited by Dmitri Siegel and Edward Morris, featuring the coolest and most rousing images that have come out of the project so far -- some by established artists like Shepard Fairey and DJ Spooky, some by emerging artists …

Don't f*ck with us.So, 350.org and 1Sky are uniting. Interesting news! I was particularly struck by this bit from Bill McKibben and Betsy Taylor's post: We have learned over time that you can't win simply by explaining the crisis to political leaders; they may intellectually understand that they're facing the end of the world, but what they really fear is the end of their political careers. We need to build a movement that can reward and punish politicians. Since we'll never have the money to match the fossil-fuel front groups, we're going to need a different currency: bodies, creativity, passion. …

Let's get together -- yeah, yeah, yeah.We environmentalists hear this periodically from friends and family and other concerned citizens: "I wish there weren't so many groups. It's confusing. I don't know who to volunteer for. Wouldn't it work better if you all got together?" This isn't quite as obvious as it sounds. Different groups have sprung up at different times to fill different niches. You wouldn't look out at a marsh and say, "It would be much nicer if there were just one kind of frog to keep track of." Diversity has some very real purposes. But there are moments …

[UPDATE: All four amendments to block EPA went down to defeat in the Senate today. McConnell's, the one that would block EPA permanently, got only 50 votes -- not as many Dem crossovers as expected. This isn't the end, of course; it was just stage-setting. The big bid is to attach an amendment to a must-pass bill. But if Republicans insist on maximalism, it looks like they're not going to get very far with it.] Both houses of Congress are voting on measures to block EPA climate rules today. It's unclear where things stand at the moment; it'll be clearer …

As Montgomery Burns reminds us, since the beginning of time man has yearned to destroy the sun. That’s lucky for the top brains who attended Sunday’s conference on climate change and geoengineering -- deliberately tweaking the Earth, sea, and atmosphere for improved performance. Of the several geoengineering solutions they discussed, only one promised to alter warming on a global scale: "solar radiation management," otherwise known as blocking sunlight. No word on whether they discussed sending the Planet Express ship to drop slabs of ice into the ocean. The likely SRM technique doesn’t look much like Mr. Burns’ sun-blocking machine -- …

Photo: ItzaFineDayAn environmental justice coalition called the Association of Irritated Residents (not making that up) has sued to stop implementation of California's AB 32 climate program, and it looks like they've won the first round. A judge has ruled that the state's Air Resources Board didn't fully consider alternatives to the cap-and-trade portion of the program. The launch, slated for January 1, 2012, is in limbo. Environmental justice groups' beef with emission trading in California goes way back, and I don't pretend to know the entire history in detail. But as I understand it, the core of the objection is …

The World Bank -- famous for funding gobsmackingly huge, planet-killing coal-fired power plants -- is changing its tune, sort of. Under a new set of proposed rules, the Bank would only be allowed to fund gobsmackingly huge, planet-killing coal-fired power plants in the world's poorest countries. Progress! Okay, that sounds dastardly, but it’s a little complicated. The world's poorest countries are exactly the countries that will suffer most under climate change, so less coal is good (though no coal would be better). But they’re also the countries for whom energy poverty represents an even bigger threat than climate change, meaning …

Progressives shouldn't keep quiet.Photo: Jennifer MooSome of the best pollsters have known for years that progressives can and should talk about climate change. Mark Mellman calls the polling that suggests one shouldn’t talk about global warming, a “politically naïve, methodologically flawed, and factually inaccurate.” Sure, if you talk about any subject in a clumsy fashion you will turn people off -- just look at how Obama and major progressive politicians managed to turn a winning political issue, health care reform, into an unpopular one! Much of the climate language that gets tested is truly lame. But the fact that poor …

Cross-posted from Real Climate Economics. The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a hearing yesterday on climate change science, economics, and policy. It was fascinating to listen to, and will no doubt provide much rich food for thought and discussion (for starters see Andy Revkin, or Chris Mooney, or Steve McIntyre for a skeptic's view). The witnesses included two climate scientists (Kerry Emmanuel and John Christy), a physicist turned climate researcher (Richard Muller), a corporate lawyer (Peter Glaser), a business school expert on forecasting (J. Scott Armstrong), and a respected economist (David Montgomery). Several of the witnesses are …