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New mockumentary on climate science, dialogue, and societal change is opening soon

Filmmaker Randy Olson has just completed Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy, a hilarious new mockumentary thickly peopled with real life climate scientists, activists, skeptics, and a rollicking plot-line that could bring a lot more people into the global warming tent. I found it refreshing and a good follow-up to the Gore movie, because it's not so much about the scientists or the celebrities telling us why we should care. Instead, it's fun, watchable, and about real people and what they think about this issue.

Watch the trailer here. Tickets for the L.A. premiere go on sale next Monday.

Snippets from the news

• G8 nations vow to cut oil use. • Churchgoers grow less enamored with environmental regulation. • Farting livestock stymie New Zealand’s goal to be carbon neutral. • U.K. tries out waterless washing machine. • Dozens of dolphins stranded in both England and Madagascar. • World Naked Bike Ride was Saturday. • Celebs want to […]

McCain and Obama tout very different energy policies

While campaigning in different cities Monday, Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama managed to trade plenty of jabs on energy policy. At a rally in Raleigh, N.C., Obama called for a tax on oil-company windfall profits and declared, “At a time … when we’re paying more than $4 a gallon for gas, [McCain] wants to […]

High oil prices are our lot until demand is destroyed, but no peak

Goldman Sachs analyst Arjun Murti predicted the recent spike in oil prices, so it's worth looking at his recent interview in Barron's:

Focusing population growth in the right places will make us both

The New York Times looks at the impact of high gas prices in communities across the nation today and concludes that increases are most painful in rural areas. Part of this analysis involves an examination of money spent on gas as a share of total income. The big middle of the country does badly, and […]

Commuting can drive you crazy — no, literally

Think your commute drives you crazy? Well, you might be right. In a culture so accustomed to being on-the-go, sitting immobile in traffic for hours each day can take a toll on mental health, researchers say. “If you’re stuck in traffic, there’s a feeling of being out of control,” says psychologist Laura Pinegar, who says […]

Drilling for fossil fuels and subsidizing nuclear power: McCain energy policy

McCain reveals the heart of his energy policy: McCain was more gung-ho about nuclear power and expanded domestic drilling for oil and natural gas. When a donor in Richmond summed up his advice as, “nuclear, and drill wherever we’ve got it,” McCain responded: “You just gave my speech. Thank you, my friend.”

Drilling in ANWR still isn’t the solution to high gas prices

George Will is at it again. His latest bit of inane demagoguery can be found here, in which he excoriates everyone who has ever opposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge:

Also disqualified from complaining [about oil prices] are all voters who sent to Washington senators and representatives who have voted to keep ANWR's oil in the ground and who voted to put 85 percent of America's offshore territory off-limits to drilling.

Naturally, Will ignores the flip side of the coin. What about people who have opposed investing in renewable energy, increasing fuel efficiency standards for cars, or encouraging conservation a decade ago? Those people have done far more long-term damage. If we'd begun to work on the oil problem ten years ago, we would be in much, much better shape than we are today.

But is drill, drill, drill a solution? Will writes:

There is such a thing as a free lunch

You frequently hear that “there’s no such thing as a free lunch,” particularly when it comes to climate and energy policy. It’s a mark of “seriousness” to solemnly proclaim that it’s all going to cost a lot of money and be very, very difficult. But the free-lunch canard is just another way of restating the […]

Last, best hope for clean energy tax incentives

For the past six months, Congress has been squabbling over how to pay for a package of expiring clean energy tax incentives. These incentives, which will phase out in December, are bringing down the cost of manufacturing, building, and installing renewable energy systems and energy-efficient products. A multitude of bills have been introduced by both parties, in both chambers, and all have failed.

The last, best hope for this year is H.R. 6049. This bill passed the House on May 21 by a bipartisan vote of 263 to 160, and will be voted on in the Senate as early as Thursday. Partisan lines are being drawn in the Senate already, and the president has threatened to veto this bill. If you want to help end this stalemate, please consider sending a letter to the editor of your local paper. The more voices speaking out on this issue, the better our chance at ending this protracted impasse. Take action here.