Latest Articles
-
Republicans as defenders of the poor
Last week, the House GOP leadership proposed a budget outline that provides an alternative to President Obama’s. Here’s Citizens for Tax Justice’s [PDF] analysis of how it compares to President Obama’s plan: Over a fourth of taxpayers, mostly low-income families, would pay more in taxes under the House GOP plan than they would under the […]
-
![]()
![]()
New climate legislation overlooks a major GHG source: industrial ag
Like many others in the climate movement, I have been waiting for weeks (well, years actually) for broad and sweeping climate change legislation. Back in January the economy captured Congressional attention and I knew global warming legislation would simply have to wait. Finally, yesterday, Representatives Markey and Waxman introduced their “American Clean Energy and Security […]
-
![]()
![]()
Senate rules out using budget process to pass cap-and-trade
Prospects for using the Congress’s budget process to pass cap-and-trade legislation were extinguished on Wednesday night as the Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of a measure to bar that option. The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.), prohibits the “use of reconciliation in the Senate for climate change legislation involving a cap and trade […]
-
Using markets to make fisheries sustainable
Around the world, over-fishing is leading to severe depletion of valuable fisheries. This is as true in U.S. coastal waters as it is in many other parts of the world. In New England waters, for example, after two decades of ever more intensive fishing, the groundfish fishery has essentially collapsed. But, we are not alone. […]
-
Senate susses out climate plan positions
As attention focused on the climate and energy bill unveiled by key House Democrats on Tuesday, the Senate quietly held a couple of votes that reveal a great deal about where that chamber stands on upcoming legislation. The first was a measure sponsored by Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). It inserts […]
-
Waxman bill threatens children and elderly, says very concerned power industry
Reactions to the Waxman energy legislation are going to be pouring in over the coming days and weeks. On an early read, environmentalists are enthusiastic. But who is looking out for society’s most vulnerable? Power companies, of course! Says Scott Segal, chairman of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council: … the bill’s silence on a method […]
-
How to solve renewables’ intermittency problem
This whole solar thing isn’t working out. I’m going to start Vote Lunar.
-
Oregon’s successful mileage tax experiment worked smoothly — and helped curb congestion
Recently I’ve been flogging the concept of a mileage tax, a system of per-mile road usage fees that over time can replace our dysfunctional gasoline tax as a way of funding transportation infrastructure. Although people have raised a lot of interesting objections, I’d like for now to skip ahead and simply describe Oregon’s successful experiment […]
-
![]()
![]()
‘Getting Green Done’ speaks hard truths about sustainable business
Corporate sustainability guru Auden Schendler lays out the problem with corporate sustainability gurus in his recent Getting Green Done: Hard Truths from the Front Lines of the Sustainability Revolution. In doing so, he pretty much dares the nation’s copy editors to title their reviews with the decade’s most played-out headline: “It’s Not Easy Being Green.” […]
-
Canadian eco-rap and other youth offerings in Vancouver
When Premier of British Columbia Gordon Campbell asked delegates at the World Conference on Sport and the Environment whether they had flown to the Vancouver event on Monday, hundreds of hands shot up. If any of them saw the irony of reaching an environmental conference through the carbon-intensive method of jet travel, they didn’t let […]
