Latest Articles

Paterson’s Bold Carbon Gamble

California’s state budget gap was about $40 billion this year. New York’s some $50 billion. Every state in the Union is struggling with drastically lower revenues and higher costs for services of every kind, washing state capitals with red ink. At the polls next year, governors who are facing elections – – including Governor David […]

Bill McKibben on International Climate Action Day

Hundreds of thousands of people around the world turned out for last Saturday’s International Day of Climate Action. The global climate event was organized by 350.org. Grist caught up with 350’s founder, writer Bill McKibben, in New York’s Times Square. McKibben talked about the event, the worldwide turnout and what it may all mean for […]

Giveway's in Climate Bill still unfair, inefficient

Peter Dorman, a strong cap-and-trade supporter points out why Stavins’ defense of giveways is wrong. The key paragraphs: To arrive at his judgment, Stavins lumps together the bulk of the free allocations and says, “about 80 percent of the value of allowances [accrue] to consumers, small business, and public purposes.” Hmmmm. So free handouts to […]

Kerry-Boxer muddies handling of international offsets

It’s great that climate change returns to the Senate agenda this week. The Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, introduced by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) seems to be gaining some momentum, but the slow pace in the Senate makes it extremely unlikely that a vote will occur before the forthcoming […]

Caldeira on Yale e360

Yale Environment 360: I want to start with this little dust-up over SuperFreakonomics. In the book, you are quoted as saying, when it comes to global warming, “Carbon dioxide is not the right villain.” Is that accurate? Ken Caldeira: That is not accurate. I don’t believe I said anything remotely like that because I believe […]

DeLong and Deltoid on Roger Peilke Jr. "train wreck"

Roger Pielke Jr. has written the most Titanic whine in the history of the climate blogosphere, “Giant Fish, Big Fish and Minnows of the Liberal Blogosphere.”  And I do mean Titanic with a capital T.  Tim Lambert (aka Deltoid) calls it the “Pielke Pity Party.”  Eli Rabett calls it “The great Pielke meltdown.” The woe-is-me […]

Obama speaks on climate action from MIT

The naysayers, the folks who would pretend that this is not an issue, they are being marginalized. But I think it’s important to understand that the closer we get, the harder the opposition will fight and the more we’ll hear from those whose interest or ideology run counter to the much needed action that we’re […]

The Kerry-Boxer bill is not “more ambitious” than Waxman-Markey

I’m sure Steve Mufson and Juliet Eilperin didn’t choose the headline, but whoever did, I think it’s a real mistake to refer to the Kerry-Boxer bill as “a bit more ambitious” than its Waxman-Markey counterpart in the House. This became conventional wisdom almost immediately, but it seems to me both wrong and pernicious — the […]

Ask Umbra on canned and frozen foods

Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, For those times when fresh vegetables are not available, are canned or frozen veggies the way to go from a sustainable and nutritional standpoint? Assume that we recycle in our household. Cheers! Mark L.Sanford, Fla. A. Dearest Mark, I thought you Floridians would just live on fresh […]

Battle at Coal River Mountain explodes

The Battle at Coal River Mountain has officially begun. At the same time President Obama invoked the “legacy of daring men and women” in our nation’s quest for renewable energy initiatives, and as millions of concerned citizens rallied in support of 350.org climate change events around the world this weekend, Big Coal bulldozers reportedly clear […]