Latest Articles

Climate Crock Sacks Hack Attack Part 2

13 years worth of emails, and this is the best they can come up with?

Locke-in-Copenhagen:

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke has a well-earned reputation as a sharp, level-headed, practical leader. Most people wouldn’t describe him as a visionary. But in his excellent speech yesterday in Copenhagen, he laid out the case for profound transformation, and the explosive economic opportunities that come with it. Check out this passage (emphasis in bold is […]

Cantwell’s cap-and-trade bill: almost genius

Sen. Maria Cantwel (D-Wash.)To borrow Dave Eggers’ book title, the novel approach to cap and trade proposed by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) is a heartbreaking work of staggering genius. Genius, because it is an innovative plan to create a best-case version of cap and trade. And heartbreaking, because by design and by omission it undermines […]

In Copenhagen: island nations confront big emitters

Cross-posted from The Nation. Big news from Copenhagen today, where the divide between big emitters and at-risk nations deepened, threatening the prospects of reaching a climate deal for President Obama and other heads of state to sign when they arrive at the summit next week. In a day of major developments, the Alliance of Small […]

Employees* rage against the Coke machine in Copenhagen

COPENHAGEN — Two Cola-Cola* employees urged people in Copenhagen to never drink the soft drink again, denouncing their company’s environmental and human rights record in a highly unusual press conference* in the Hopenhagen LIVE area in City Hall Square. The public relations* workers from Atlanta* said their consciences compelled them to speak out against the […]

From Big Ben to Brussels: Group walks to raise climate awareness

Here are the stats on our walk from Big Ben to Brussels: 3 countries, 15 days, 250 miles, an estimated 500,000 steps. Me and 4 footsore, fantastic friends. Our final day seemed almost too easy. We woke up with less than 10 miles to go, and had to dawdle along to allow the camera crew […]

U.S. takes daft position on agriculture at climate talks

Things are not looking good on the agriculture front at the Copenhagen climate talks. According to a representative from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, a group dedicated to sustainable agriculture and trade policy, American negotiators are being, um, less than productive: Long, long meeting this afternoon (Dec. 10) on sectoral language for agriculture. […]

Sunstein Watch: What progressives expect from OIRA

Dear Cass: As you know, we picked a spat with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) last week over Randy Lutter’s supposedly temporary detail appointment to your office. It’s not the first time we’ve criticized the workings of OIRA, and almost certainly won’t be the last.  I’ve spoken to a number of people in […]

Yes Men (almost) stage global takeover in Copenhagen

The Hopenhagen Globe looms above City Hall SquarePhoto: Matthew McDermott vic flickrThe Yes Men, merry climate pranksters, had been oddly quiet of late. Strange, since we are now deep into week one of the Copenhagen climate talks. But the activist group broke its silence today when members posing as reps from the Coca Cola company […]

Why should policymakers, investors, and businesspeople care about youth in Copenhagen?

Of the estimated 20,000 people converging on the U.N. climate conference this week and next, half of them are expected to be under the age of 30. My colleague in Copenhagen, Kristina Haddad, reports, “I observed that many in the crowds of people were young. Most were wearing t-shirts or passing out flyers that essentially […]