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Forgery Farce

One of the more macabre aspects of the still-evolving scandal involving the forged letters to Congress on the climate legislation was the disavowal of all responsibility by the Hawthorn Group — the astro-turf lobbying group that has worked for nearly a decade to snooker public officials about allegedly “clean coal.” Since 2000, Hawthorn has worked for […]

Simple summer salads for staying cool and well-nourished

It’s getting hot in here ….It’s happening again. It’s gotten so damn hot that I fear the heat of the stove. I want to be at the beach, tubing down a river, napping in a hammock under a big shade tree. The problem is I still get hungry. Convenience foods abound to solve that problem […]

‘The Great Squeeze’ joins long list of doomsaying eco-films

Our planet’s supply of safe drinking water is rapidly diminishing. We have reached peak oil (according to some experts). The polar ice caps are melting, causing sea levels to rise and threatening coastal areas and island nations everywhere. The Great Squeeze, a documentary by director Christophe Fauchere (of 2007’s film Energy Crossroads), is full of […]

South Korea outlines a range of global warming reduction targets that they’ll adopt

For over a year now, South Korea has been undertaking an extensive dialogue to establish a target to cut their global warming pollution (see my discussion here and this ClimateWire story –sub req.– from last year). And now the South Korean government has outlined the possible targets that they will commit to later this year […]

Obama admin teams with grassroots groups to ‘Green the Block’

Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., president of the Hip Hop Caucus, discusses the Green the Block partnership. In the background (L-R) are Dept. of Energy Undersecretary Kristina Johnson, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan. Kate Sheppard / GristEnsuring that low-income communities and minority youth benefit from green jobs […]

Doerr and Immelt: To become the green tech leader, we need a price and a cap on carbon

The Washington Post finally let through a good op-ed, “Falling Behind On Green Tech,” by John Doerr partner in VC Kleiner Perkins and Jeff Immelt, chairman and CEO of GE. As I’ve been saying for over a decade now, the U.S. has lost its lead to other countries because conservatives have blocked the policies needed […]

Sen. Dorgan: “It’s very hard for Congress to do… a couple of really big issues at the same time.”

Apparently, the latest complaint from what is supposedly the world’s most exclusive deliberative body is that it’s just too damn much for the American public to expect that their elected representatives deal with more than one big issue – health care and climate – at the same time.  As the WashPost reports in a story […]

GOP opposes successful “Cash for Clunkers”

I was not a big fan of the final version of “Cash for Clunkers” because its mileage improvement requirements were so inadequate, as Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) explained here. But in the real world, the public has mostly turned in gas-guzzlers in exchange for fuel-efficient cars – which perhaps should not […]

“Can you PROVE to me that global warming is being caused by mankind?”*

Someone sent me a terrific set of the “deniers rules for debate” from Mercurius.  Let me introduce them by way of a February 2008 email exchange I had with a denier over the headline question (see here).  The denier wrote: I have been doing enormous amounts of research in this global warming (caused by man) […]

Who is the National Commission on Energy Policy and why are they the bad guys?

[If  readers know any of the NCEP commissioners listed at the end, I’d suggest sharing your thoughts with them on what useful role they might play in the clean energy and climate debate.] Jason Grumet, a former campaign adviser to President Obama, said there is little reason for Boxer to try and set stronger emission […]