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More Couric and Palin, on drilling and climate change

More excerpts from the Couric interview with Palin, on subjects including drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The trademark borderline-incoherence is in full effect: Here’s the transcript. Here’s the part on climate change, where she tries to back off or at least muddy up her skepticism: Couric: Is it man-made, though in your view? […]

It’s just that they keep talking about the causes of the problem …

It’s clear to anyone paying attention that much if not most of global warming “skepticism” is driven by political opposition to the solutions, but you rarely hear people slip up and admit it: “I do believe we need to be good stewards and I think we are, but some of the issues that I have […]

Snippets from the news

• Influential Australian economist urges decisive action on climate change. • Climate-change report urges reducing food consumption, particularly meat. • U.S. Chamber of Commerce details energy blueprint. • Feds propose listing 48 endangered species at once. • What environmental issues should the Army consider? • EPA issues radiation standards for Yucca Mountain. • Lawsuits filed […]

Everglades restoration going slowly, poorly, federal report says

The roughly $10 billion restoration of the Everglades is “making scant progress toward achieving its goals” due to built-in bureaucracy, funding troubles, and more, according to a report from the National Research Council. The report paints a bleak picture of federal and state rescue efforts, which together comprise the largest ecosystem restoration project in history. […]

Is coal with carbon capture and storage a core climate solution?

The goal of carbon capture and storage (CCS), also called carbon sequestration, is to take carbon dioxide that would have been emitted into the atmosphere from new or existing power plants (usually coal) and instead store it someplace, hopefully forever. It is an attractive idea across the political spectrum because it might allow us to […]

Obama says energy will remain a top priority despite financial crisis

On the campaign trail in Reno, Nev., today, Barack Obama attempted to quell fears that the financial crisis would lead him to shelve key components of his agenda if he were elected. During Friday’s debate, he said he would still “make sure we’re investing in energy … to solve this problem,” but also said there […]

While antibiotic-resistant bugs flourish, a House subcommittee buries its head

In Meat Wagon, we round up the latest outrages from the meat and livestock industries. As the fruits of three decades of financial-market deregulation and lax oversight ripen on Wall Street, now is a fitting time to mull over our government’s efforts to regulate the food industry. Let’s think specifically about its actions regarding antibiotics […]

McCain claims U.S. has ‘the world’s largest oil reserves’

John McCain did an interview via satellite yesterday with WSYX ABC News in Columbus, Ohio, in which he claimed that the United States has the world’s largest oil reserves. You can watch the video, or here’s a transcript of the relevant section: Reporter: Now, some say it would be health care, some say it’s the […]

Bus rapid transit in Paris

Here’s a video from Streetblogs about Mobilien, the excellent bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Paris that launched in 2004: In implementing the system, Paris eliminated a great deal of street parking. Quel horror!

Amazon deforestation soars, Brazil blames its own land-reform agency

The 100 individuals or companies most responsible for Amazon deforestation since 2005 were listed Monday by Brazilian Environment Minister Carlos Minc, and Brazil’s own land-reform agency took the top spot. The Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform was said to be culpable for the deforestation of 850 square miles of Amazon rainforest in the last […]