Latest Articles

Scrounging for a green angle to the Large Hadron Collider experiment

Courtesy SBARTSTV via Youtube.Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland, yesterday succeeded in smashing subatomic particles together at 99 percent of the speed of light, which is more than three times the highest levels previously recorded. This is a big freaking deal that could revolutionize the study of particle physics, according to people […]

Post-truth politics

During this strange lull in the (endless) development of the federal climate bill, I’ve been mulling over a few political notions. First: voters don’t generally know much about politics or policy. They have things they do know a lot about (American Idol, baseball teams, accounting software, scrapbooking), but for most voters, politics and policy aren’t […]

Understanding the allure of ‘drill baby drill’

President Obama’s decision to expand offshore drilling leases seems to affirm the power that the “drill baby drill” battle cry holds in the American energy conversation. Turns out a short, simple, much-repeated slogan holds more currency than detailed policy arguments from clean-energy advocates. I want to tease out a connection between “drill baby drill” and […]

Is Obama’s offshore drilling plan winning any GOP votes?

The consensus, among People on the Internet anyway, is that Obama’s far-reaching offshore drilling expansion is a bid to win Republican support for clean-energy legislation. More offshore drilling is a major Republican energy priority, after all. So how are GOP leaders responding? House leaders John Boehner and Mike Pence attack the plan as a job-killing […]

House of Commons exonerates Phil Jones

We believe that the focus on CRU and Professor Phil Jones, Director of CRU, in particular, has largely been misplaced…. In the context of the sharing of data and methodologies, we consider that Professor Jones’s actions were in line with common practice in the climate science community…. Likewise the evidence that we have seen does […]

Pre-order my new book, "Straight Up"

Anyone who has specific ideas for marketing the book or knows someone who might need review copy should email me at the address here. My new book doesn’t come out until the week of April 19th.  But you can pre-order it on Amazon.com (click here).  You know you want to after getting all these Climate Progress posts […]

Chu: "A price on carbon is essential"

Do you think that having a price on carbon is crucial? I do. I absolutely believe a price on carbon is essential — that will send a very important long-term signal. [But] if it’s five years from now, I think it will be truly tragic, because other countries, notably China, are moving ahead so aggressively. […]

The Hill: GOP senators say they can work with Dems despite healthcare battle

Republican senators say they can work with Democrats, despite dire predictions that the healthcare fight would make cooperation impossible. Okay, this story from The Hill isn’t a big shock.  But once again, John McCain proved how out of touch he is:   Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) warned that using reconciliation to block a GOP filibuster and pass […]

Obama will open large sections of Southeast and Alaskan coasts to offshore drilling

Updated President Obama will open large swaths of the Atlantic, Gulf, and Alaskan coasts to offshore oil and natural gas drilling in a stunning concession to fossil-fuel companies, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and others are reporting. On Wednesday morning Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced an end to […]

Win A Million Dollars

Seems like every week there’s another big-money prize awarded for low-carbon leadership. If these things actually stimulate innovation, let’s encourage the creation of a few more to spread the wealth and inspire even more low-carbon winners. For example, there’s a $10 million prize for cars that get 100 mpg sponsored by the same X Prize […]