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Baucus supports a climate bill and knows it will pass Congress,

  Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) knows that his state’s trees are being ravaged by warming-driven pests now and that Montana faces 175% to 400% increase in wildfire burn area if we don’t reverse course sharply and soon on greenhouse gas emissions.  That’s why he supports strong climate action and said last week, “There’s no doubt […]

Voters in Ohio, Michigan and Missouri support climate action

Polling from 3 key states — and 5 key districts — finds strong support for the climate and clean energy bill.  Every major recent poll has come to the same conclusion (see Swing state poll finds 60% “would be more likely to vote for their senator if he or she supported the bill” and Independents […]

El Niño-driven sea surface temperatures still soaring.

Last week I noted “El Niño-driven sea surface temperatures are soaring. Forecast: Hot and then even hotter.” They are still soaring.  NOAA’s National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center has a good animation of tropical Pacific SST anomalies: The warming in the Nino 3.4 region of the Pacific is typically used to define an El Niño […]

Can perfect markets induce capital investment?

Question: are there any examples of a completely free market inducing investment in mature, capital-intensive industries? I’m not sure there are. More problematically, I’m not sure that economists and policy makers appreciate this reality. The result is that we continue to create markets — from electricity to CO2 — that by design are incapable of […]

Is “we’re going to burn the coal anyway” an argument for carbon sequestration?

I’m involved in an ongoing email debate over the wisdom of “clean coal” — that is, coal power plants that capture and sequester their carbon dioxide emissions. It will eventually be published on a State Dept. website, and then in Grist. In the meantime, a preview of sorts. A frequent argument one hears in favor […]

Will South Carolina become the nation’s new Yucca Mountain?

The Savannah River. Photo courtesy Mountain Hermit via Flickr Earlier this year, President Obama canceled the federal government’s plans to store high-level radioactive waste from nuclear power plants and weapons facilities at the controversial Yucca Mountain site in Nevada — but now there are concerns that South Carolina could become the permanent dumping ground for […]

Fourteen Democratic senators stick up for coal

Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. Thursday, 14 Democratic senators affirmed their allegiance to the profits of polluting industry at the expense of the health and jobs of their constituents. In a letter to Senate leaders, a bloc of senators with powerful coal interests in their states called for “fair emissions allowances in climate change legislation.” […]

From hopeful climate to climate of despair

It was less than a year ago, but everything seemed so different then. George W. Bush was still in the White House, but officials gathered at the annual international climate talks, held last December in Poznan, felt new hope in the chilly Polish air: President-elect Obama had, against many expectations, made it clear that combatting […]

The new wave of urban farming (and fresh food from small spaces!)

It’s always sunny in this Philadelphia community garden.Photo courtesy Tony the Misfit via Flickr Do you dream of an organic garden, but don’t have a yard? A flock of chicks, perhaps, but don’t have a yard? Home-grown food, and lower grocery bills (but, alas, no yard!)? Dream no more, because you can have it, and […]

The Climate Post: Where there’s a Will there’s a fray

First things first: U.N. General Secretary Ban Ki-moon expressed confidence that international negotiators can resolve impediments to a global climate agreement, and that Copenhagen will be a productive step in that process. Ban visited Washington, D.C., where he and climate adviser Janos Pasztor spoke with lawmakers about the international community’s expectations for U.S. leadership on […]