Latest Articles
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Reactions to passage of the House climate and energy bill
Many folks are praising the House’s passage of the American Clean Energy and Security Act, but stressing that they want to see it improved in the Senate. Sierra Club: “With today’s historic vote, Congress has taken the first step toward unleashing a true clean energy revolution. … We urged the House to pass this bill […]
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How did your rep vote on the House climate and energy bill?
By a vote of 219-212, the U.S. House of Representatives on June 26 passed a landmark climate and energy bill — the American Clean Energy and Security Act, aka the Waxman-Markey bill. Most Democrats voted for the bill — 211 in all — but 44 Dems voted against. Almost all Republicans opposed the bill — […]
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Friday music blogging: Little Boots
Waxman-Markey passed the House! Here’s a celebratory song from rising British electro-pop star Little Boots, from her debut album Hands:
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The story of our civil disobedience against mountaintop-removal coal mining
Several people asked for more information about the 23 June civil disobedience near Coal River Mountain. We need Dickens to describe the local situation, but you can glean something from a statement I was reading at the time we were arrested (reprinted below). Local pollution effects and regional environmental destruction should be enough to stop […]
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The GOP’s Spanish prisoner/professor
In prepping for today’s House debate on Waxman-Markey, I watched a film. (No, not An Inconvenient Truth.) It was David Mamet’s mindbender, The Spanish Prisoner. The movie takes its title from a venerable long-con so complicated that — I don’t care how many times you’ve seen the film — twenty minutes in and you’ll have […]
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A right to rain
One man gathers rain to recharge groundwater reserves and another pushes salt water through a desalination plant for subsequent sale. Are these both viable solutions to the world’s water crisis? With the impacts of climate change, water waste, contamination and mismanagement driving us ever closer to the edge of a cliff, ensuring clean and plentiful […]
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Germany’s Merkel praises U.S. House climate bill as a ‘sea change’
Angela MerkelPhoto: Bertelsmann StiftungThe climate bill being debated today in the U.S. House represents a “sea change” and “points to the fact that the United States [is] very serious on climate,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a visit to the White House this morning. “I wish you every success. … I would not have […]
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Was the Tennessee coal ash disaster really a once-in-a-lifetime event?
A new report from an engineering firm hired by the Tennessee Valley Authority identified factors behind last year’s disaster that unleashed more than a billion of gallons of toxic ash from a massive storage pond at the federal company’s Kingston plant in eastern Tennessee. It claims that the disaster was a one-of-a-kind event — but […]
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Farm lobby: Shoot the climate bill, but keep the Peterson goodies
Give me the loot–then I’ll shoot! I got mugged in Mexico City once. Guy whirled me around and pointed a gun at me. He had a crazed look in his eye–like he might be on familiar terms with a crack pipe or a glue tube. He demanded my wallet with a grunted threat to shoot. […]
