Latest Articles

A global perspective on U.S. climate emissions

To mark the international climate negotiations in Copenhagen, I’m trotting out some maps I made a while back. This one has states labeled with the names of countries that are their greenhouse gas equivalents. In other words, Oregon is responsible for the same level of climate emissions as Ireland; Wyoming is the greenhouse gas equivalent of Vietnam, and so […]

View from Copenhagen: The Zero Sum Game

The deal being discussed in Denmark right now, in the name of climate change, is actually a framework for truth in advertising on a global economic scale. Think FASB on steroids. For example, we spend about three bucks for a gallon of gasoline in the US. In fact, we spend about ten, because of the […]

Kyoto: Congress’ disgrace, not ‘Al Gore’s mistake’

A specter hangs over the U.S. negotiators at the Copenhagen climate summit: the Kyoto Syndrome. Conventional wisdom holds that the Clinton Administration, and Al Gore in particular, blew it by agreeing to the Kyoto Accords without building the foundation for the Senate to ratify it, which it never did. (See, e.g., “How to Prevent Climate […]

Meg Boyle weighs in: Why Copenhagen isn't Kyoto

Meg Boyle, acclaimed youth climate leader (though isn’t it time we jettison the ‘youth’ modifier – I weighed in here on this issue last year!) and my comrade-in-arms at whatwedo.org has this excellent new post from COP15.  Please offer your comments, and be in touch with her this way: Meg AT whatwedo DOT org **** […]

U.S. charm offensive at Copenhagen climate conference: Will it work?

COPENHAGEN — Lisa Jackson, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, pushed through a crush of visitors at the U.S. Center late this morning, stepped to the podium in front of a packed meeting room, and became the first of President Obama’s senior advisors to appear at the U.N. Climate Change Conference specifically to make […]

Susan Collins (R-Maine) [UPDATED]

Susan Collins Though Sen. Susan Collins seems supportive of climate legislation, she remains a toss-up in the debate over the Kerry-Boxer bill. In this letter sent to a constituent in early December, she calls for “meaningful action” to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, while saying that solutions must be “reasonable”: Dear [Constituent], Thank you for contacting me […]

The Washington Post goes tabloid

It is no longer possible to hide the decline of a once great newspaper, no longer possible to hide the decline of the paper that broke the Watergate story, but is now hanging itself on the Climategate story (see James Fallows’ blog). The newspaper that just editorialized, “Many — including us — find global warming […]

iPhone Copenhagen App: COP 15 Navigator

Here’s a way to keep track of Copenhagen on your iPhone — COP 15 Navigator: This application is brought to you by the UN climate change secretariat (UNFCCC) to provide quick and easy access to essential information about COP 15 and to allow virtual participation in the event. COP 15 will be the biggest climate […]

World Meteorological Organization and NOAA agree

Global Warming Is Not Slowing, New Analysis Says Good NYT headline, though this isn’t really “new analysis.”  I pointed last December that the climate story of the decade is that the 2000s are on track to be some 0.2°C warmer than the 1990s based on NASA’s data (see “Very warm 2008 makes this the hottest […]

Association for the Advancement of Science reaffirms evidence

he American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has reaffirmed the position of its Board of Directors and the leaders of 18 respected organizations, who concluded based on multiple lines of scientific evidence that global climate change caused by human activities is now underway, and it is a growing threat to society. “The vast […]