Latest Articles
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Are crippling droughts the next great threat to Iraq?
Cross-posted from TomDispatch. This report appears in the winter 2009/10 issue of World Policy Journal and is posted here with the kind permission of the editors of that magazine. BAGHDAD — From his mud brick home on the edge of the Garden of Eden, Awda Khasaf has twice seen his country’s lifeblood seep away. The […]
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What should we watch for during the climate summit’s final days? [UPDATED]
We’re at the halfway point in the U.N. Copenhagen climate summit. Week one brought us the troublesome leaked climate treaty draft; the surprise proposal (from the tiny island nation of Tuvalu) to lower the acceptable rise in global temperature from 2 degrees Centigrade to 1.5; lead U.S. negotiator Todd Stern’s unequivocal rejection of the argument […]
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The importance of Copenhagen and EPA’s endangerment finding
You’ve probably already been bombarded with news about the climate talks in Copenhagen this week and next. The hustle of the news cycle should not diminish the gathering’s importance, though. This international meeting is an opportunity to take great international strides against global warming. Indeed, we have our own team of people in Copenhagen to […]
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Defending the Cantwell/Collins CLEAR Act
Sen. Maria Cantwel (D-Wash.)Sens. Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Collins (D-Ill.) have introduced a welcome addition to the debate over climate change legislation in the Senate. Their bill, with its strong architecture, and simple, fair, and transparent emissions reduction, can help restart the momentum to agree to climate change legislation early next year before the prospect of […]
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Why Cantwell-Collins is best — and how it just might win
As U.S. climate legislation creeps forward, Senators now have two frameworks to choose from. One is from Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.); the other is from Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). Both begin with descending carbon caps that, along with supplementary policies, promise to reduce carbon […]
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U.S Gov’t official: ‘avoid BPA’ in food packaging
Oh, you wanted it poison-free? Let’s hope this report represents a tipping of the government’s hand on bisphenol A and not a case of someone going rogue: The head of the primary federal agency studying the safety of bisphenol A said Friday that people should avoid ingesting the chemical–especially pregnant women, infants and children. “There […]
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Canada—or practical jokers?—announces bold new climate position
UPDATE: The Yes Men come clean. Read this, and watch the video: Original post from Dec. 14: If only it were true. This has all the makings of a Yes Men project, which is too bad, because it would be wonderful news if it were true: Canada Announces New Agenda For Climate and World Development […]
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The one real story out of the first week of Copenhagen
Reading about the Copenhagen climate talks has been like tuning into a telenovela: Crossed signals! Secret betrayals! Tempestuous threats! The entire UNFCCC climate framework has seemed to teeter continually on the brink of implosion. But for all the noise and fury, the there was, in my opinion, only one genuinely new story of significance and […]
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Heading into the second week of Copenhagen … the arc of the negotiations
Wow! Has it really only been a week of the international global warming negotiations in Copenhagen? Based upon the intensity of the debate you would think that we are down to the wire in the second week of the negotiations. After all, these negotiations often only get finalized in the wee hours of the final […]
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Ask Umbra on holiday donations, green magazines, and more
Dearest Readers, I write to you from Copenhagen, where I have come to witness the big climate conference. O the life of a Grist columnist gets more glamorous by the day! Be sure to check out our coverage, and follow my adventures on Twitter. Yes, dear readers, I’ve finally succumbed to the tweet hereafter — […]
