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Why some Russians look forward to global warming

Conquering its vast wilderness has long been a dream of Russia’s rulers, even the not-so-capitalist ones…Freedom Toast via FlickrOK, this is really a glorified retweet, but Brad Plumer has a fascinating post at the New Republic about Russia’s apparent enthusiasm for climate change:  “Many Russia leaders are actually excited about a warmer world where Siberia’s […]

Small changes at EPA could have big environmental impacts

While climate change legislation works its way toward 60 votes in the Senate, President Obama’s EPA has been quietly working on some serious revisions to the guidelines it uses to conduct cost-benefit analysis.  Tweaks they might make to the powerful but low-profile Guidelines for Preparing Economic Analyses could have major impacts on the environment and […]

Obama tells China the “ravages of climate change” demand cooperation

In a speech to head off the first meeting of the Strategic Economic Dialogue in Washington, D.C between the United States and China this morning, President Obama talks Chinese spending: Going forward, we can deepen this cooperation. We can promote financial stability through greater transparency and regulatory reform. We can pursue trade that is free […]

So long, Sarah!

The U.S. Postal Service screwed up and delivered a farewell card to us that was clearly intended for Sarah Palin, the now ex-governor of Alaska. We didn’t realize the error before we had opened it, scanned it, and published it here for your reading pleasure. An honest mistake, really… (Click to open.)  

When life makes you lemonade, Kate Galbraith and the NY Times give you lemons

  “Convoys of turbine parts for windmills slow traffic and attract attention in coastal towns like Searsport, Me., on their way to western Maine” – the caption from the absurd NYT piece, “Slow, Costly and Often Dangerous Road to Wind Power.” So here’s the news. We’re now the #1 producer of wind power in the […]

Turns out humans are not like slowly boiling frogs — we are like slowly boiling brainless frogs

I learned something new or, rather, old from reading Fallows’ blog. The famous metaphor* — “the fatally slow human response to climate change makes us like a slowly boiling frog” — is not quite right. As Wikipedia puts it, German physiologist Friedrich Goltz “demonstrated that frogs will indeed remain in slowly heated water, but only […]

The future of hockey sticks on an ice-free planet

A number of people asked me to reply to a blog post by Atlantic monthly columnist James Fallows in which he opines on a variety of climate-related subjects from Al Gore to the “Hockey Stick” graph. Since I have known Fallows for a long time – we share mutual interests in rhetoric and the late […]

Palin on Energy: The Bad, the Ugly, and the Response

Barbara Boxer, chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, and John Kerry, chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, write in “What Palin Got Wrong About Energy“: Whether it was the debate over the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Superfund law or any other landmark environmental law, one pattern has always been […]

“Clouds Appear to Be Big, Bad Player in Global Warming” — an amplifying feedback

The best evidence is that the climate is now being driven by amplifying feedbacks (see Study: Water-vapor feedback is “strong and positive,” so we face “warming of several degrees Celsius”), most notably: The defrosting of the permafrost The drying of the Northern peatlands (bogs, moors, and mires). The destruction of the tropical wetlands Decelerating growth […]

Will we see record low Arctic ice volume this year?

“Daily sea ice extent as of July 21. The solid blue line indicates 2009 … the purple line shows 2008; and the solid gray line indicates average extent from 1979 to 2000.” The blogosphere and scientific community are all abuzz as to whether 2009 will beat 2007 in minimum Arctic sea ice area. See, for […]