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Washington is still the weakest link

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that Washington was the West Coast's weakest link when it comes to climate policy. Since then, the Evergreen State has stepped up with the outline of a plan to put a sizable dent in emissions. (That's in addition to some small-caliber but near-term policies). This was such great news that I was tempted to change my handicapping.

But then I read the papers yesterday ...

Maybe

After years of rumors and false starts, Edward Abbey’s classic novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, credited with inspiring the Earth First! movement, may finally make it to a movie theater near you. The 1975 book follows a foursome of activists angry about the overdevelopment of Utah’s canyonlands and not afraid to show it — by […]

Tell us when green bursts from the screen

For the second time in two nights, I was innocently watching bad TV when a green theme popped up. A gal can’t get a break from her day job these days with so many producers rushing to prove their eco-cred. So how far-reaching is this trend? Figuring that out will either require me to watch […]

McCain and Lieberman have it

McCain and Lieberman have an op-ed on global warming in The Boston Globe today. It’s good enough, but this bit — no one will be surprised to hear — rubs me the wrong way: How can Congress close the deal to prevent catastrophic global warming while it still has the chance? In the same way […]

Czech pres. isn’t on board with the climate change thing

Václav Klaus, the President of the Czech Republic, thinks the whole global warming thing is a hoax: Global warming is a myth and I think that every serious person and scientist says so. It is unfair to refer to the United Nations panel. IPCC is not a scientific body: it’s a political institution, a kind […]

A new green blog

Joel Makower wrote to let me know about an intriguing new blog on Greenbiz: "Turning the Ship." It’s about greening the U.S. economy, and features posts from smarty-pants types from Yale, Harvard, Pew, and other smarty-pant hotbeds. Check it out. (Hopefully I can convince Joel to kill the frame. Didn’t frames in web pages die […]

Less grift, more grist?

Charles Komanoff's refutation of Bill Chameides's tirade against carbon taxes does not require repetition by me. However, there is one point I can add detail to -- that a carbon tax is more transparent than emissions trading.

This is not just an abstract point. Consider in the Kyoto carbon trading scheme how most carbon credits were given at no cost to major polluters. That is not a necessary part of emissions trading. You could auction off 100 percent of the credits. For that matter, you could rebate carbon taxes to major polluters if you want. The difference lies in how obvious it is -- how transparent such schemes are.

Damn I hate that show

For the first few seasons of 24, I kept trying to get into it — I’d watch the first three or four episodes and give up. I dropped by for an episode or two this season, and it confirmed my initial impression, which is: 24 reflects a warped, adolescent view of violence and human nature. […]

Q&A with Grist donor and electric-bike winner Tommaso Boggia

Remember back in 2006 when we asked you to help support our solutions-based coverage for the new year? And we promised to hand out cool prizes like a spiffy electric Schwinn? Well, y'all followed through! And so did we.

Who's the lucky soon-to-be coolest biker on the block? A college student named Tommaso Boggia who made a donation using the birthday and Christmas money his grandmother had given him. Nope, he wasn't cherry-picked -- his name was drawn out of a (very large) hat. Apparently, a little good karma goes a long way.

So in an effort to continue the karmic cycle, and -- dare we say it -- perhaps inspire you to cash in on some karma of your own, we asked Boggia to share his plans for the bike, his plans for the future, and his glowing opinion of Grist (we couldn't resist!).

He’s fer it

Andrew and I have a story coming out later today on the whole brouhaha around AEI allegedly offering scientists $10,000 to undermine the IPCC report (turns out there’s a lot more smoke than fire). In the process of putting it together we’ve been in email contact with Steve Hayward at AEI. In passing, he said […]