Latest Articles

How much will we pay to avoid serious harm to our children and grandchildren?

International climate change negotiations have centered on which countries are willing to pay, how much, and when. Putting aside bickering over who will pick up the tab, the most central question that we need to ask is: What are we willing to pay to avoid serious harm to our children and grandchildren? Some economists believe […]

Environmental groups unprepared for ‘Swift Boating’ of climate science

Are the climate skeptics increasingly winning the battle for public opinion? On the very eve of the Copenhagen conference, there are signs that they are — and that environmental groups are allowing them to. Polls on both sides of the Atlantic over the last weeks indicate that fewer people now believe that global warming is […]

A womb of one’s own

Photo: Mahalie via Flickr So, why is my response ire and not panic? I guess I’m over the panic. During my pregnancy, I’ve been reading a lot about the toxics in my body and their potential effects on the fetus (and I’ll be writing a lot more about this stuff in this blog series). I […]

Umbilical Cords Strike an Off Note

More than 200 toxic chemicals were found in the blood of umbilical cords sampled from racial and ethnic minority babies in a report coming out Wednesday. The analysis discovered for the first time in cord blood bisphenol A (or BPA), a perfluorocarbon used in non-stick and weather-proofing products, as well as certain forms of PCBs […]

Grist correspondent heads to Copenhagen, looks forward to pickled herring

Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid statue, inspired by the Danish writer Hans Christian Anderson.Photo: julienponsI’m off to Copenhagen today, to spend 16 days sampling various pickled fish, shopping at the Christmas market, and, if there’s time, checking out some environment conference thing I’ve been hearing about. Seriously, I’ll be reporting on the climate talks, with a focus […]

PETA on one side, FOX on the other … now that’s a conundrum

In this corner, we have PETA, a shameless animal-rights organization that uses boobies to make its point at least — what, once or twice a minute? To wit: this latest, uh, holiday-themed ad featuring Polish Playboy model Joanna Krupa. In the other corner, we have FOX News and angry Christians: For a higher purpose?PETA.org “It’s […]

Developed country emissions reduction commitments: Copenhagen (part 2)

One of the six key elements of the international agreement is: strong leadership from developed countries with firm and aggressive emissions reductions targets in the near-term (e.g., 2020 and 2030) and strong signals that they will significantly reduce emissions in the medium-term (e.g., 2050). As I discussed in Part 1, the expectations for Copenhagen are […]

Market oversight in the Western Climate Initiative

Though most climate policy wonks are now focused on U.S. federal legislation or the summit in Copenhagen, the Western Climate Initiative is soldiering on — and doing good work too. The WCI’s Markets Committee recently released a white paper on carbon market oversight that is worth a read. While the paper doesn’t draw many conclusions about WCI’s final […]

How cap-and-trade markets work for acid rain and smog

Contrary to claims that cap-and-trade is untested or uproven, there are a half dozen or so operational cap-and-trade programs already functioning in the United States. Of these, the most significant are the Acid Rain Program and the NOx Budget Trading Program. Both have large vibrant trading markets, both have been extremely successful in achieving environmental aims, […]

How carbon markets work in Europe

In spite of what you may have heard, Europe’s carbon market is working beautifully. The E.U.’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) has been operational since 2005 and we’re now getting a good look at how it functions. It turns out, it’s a remarkable success story, both environmentally and economically. Let’s briefly review the major pieces of […]