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Energy portions of Waxman/Markey compensate (in part) for carbon weaknesses
There are some gloomy reactions to the Waxman/Markey bill around the interwebs — see, for instance, Ezra Klein, Matt Yglesias, Kevin Drum, and Brad Plumer. I’m not going to claim the bill is perfect, but I think the pessimism is excessive. It comes down to this: these guys are focusing too much on the carbon […]
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Did Obama screw up ag subsidy reform?
Over the weekend, the NYT detailed the trials and tribulations of the Obama administration’s attempts to trim farm subsidy payments of a certain size: Among the audacious proposals in President Obama’s budget was a plan to save more than $9.7 billion over a decade by putting strict limits on farm subsidies that are disbursed regardless […]
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Bachmann again calls for revolution against climate action
Two weeks ago, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) called for an “armed and dangerous” revolution against measures to curb greenhouse-gas emissions and move away from fossil fuels. Now she’s toning down her rhetoric a bit, clarifying during an interview with NewsMax that she wants citizens “to be armed with knowledge, so they can be dangerous to […]
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Green nudges: An interview with Obama regulatory czar Cass Sunstein
From deceptive advertising to misguided public policy to sheer boneheadedness, Americans have no shortage of forces pushing them to make unwise choices. How else to explain Ding-Dongs? Or ruining a perfectly good planet? Legal scholar and avowed environmentalist Cass Sunstein, however, holds out hope that we, both individually and collectively, are not condemned to irrationality. […]
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Markey/Waxman = Roadmap for Coal
As an upstart state rep from Malden, Mass, Ed Markey had the temerity to support rules reform, which got him kicked him out of his office by Speaker Tom McGee. Markey set up desk, chair and phone in the statehouse hallway and burnished an image of integrity which vaulted him to the top of a […]
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The breakthrough technology illusion
[A misleading Newsweek piece, “We Can’t Get There From Here” that I will respond to in detail later this week is the inspiration to update this earlier post on the breakthrough myth.] This post will explain why some sort of massive government Apollo program or Manhattan project to develop new breakthrough technologies is not a […]
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Catching up on food news after two weeks in the fog of travel, speechifying, and redesign
After two weeks in the fog of travel, speechifying, movie screenings, and redesign, I’ve missed commenting on a bunch of important stuff. I’ve emerged extremely energized by the potential of our new food “kingdom” — a place to dive deep into all sorts of issues relating the food we eat to the health of the […]
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Building green in Birmingham
“People think a green-constructed home is going to look like a mushroom or have solar panels everywhere. But you won’t be able to look at it and tell it’s a green-constructed home.” — Emmit Stallworth, Alpha Home Builders, Birmingham, Ala.
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Empire State Building to get efficiency overhaul
I’ve been wanting for a while to start a column called “Sexy Retrofits,” exploring the idea that the key to green building is overhauling existing buildings, not starting from scratch. Despite what Larry Page might think. It’s not the most glamorous notion, but it is energy efficient, cost effective, and exciting. I swear! So consider […]
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Republican enviros challenge Boehner’s misinformation
Republicans for Environmental Protection is calling on House GOP leaders to stop spreading misinformation about the climate and energy legislation Democrats released last week. In a pointed press release issued last week, the group challenged allegations made by House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) that a plan to reduce climate-warming emissions amounts to a “light […]
