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“Current economic growth, 11.5 percent or above 11 percent, is too fast and at too high a cost … The government should curb economic growth within a reasonable range that is compatible with energy and resource supply and without causing more imbalance.” — Han Yongwen, secretary general of China’s National Development and Reform Commission

Me on Hannity & Colmes

Here I am on Hannity & Colmes, 21 Dec. 2007. Mark Steyn was sitting in for Sean Hannity. The other guest is Chris Horner of CEI. There’s some satisfaction in taking shots at Horner and CEI. God knows they get off too easy most of the time. And watching Horner bumble around and make no […]

Multiple states will sue over EPA decision to not let California regulate vehicle emissions

Riled up about the U.S. EPA’s decision not to allow California to regulate vehicle greenhouse-gas emissions, Golden State Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared he will sue the agency “within the next three weeks.” At least eight other states that would have adopted the stricter emissions standards had the EPA allowed it have said they’ve got […]

Plan to regulate airline emissions moves forward in E.U.

A proposed law that would regulate emissions from airlines taking off from or landing in the European Union has been approved by environment ministers. The bill to include airlines in the E.U.’s carbon-trading scheme was scaled back from the version passed by the E.U. Parliament last month, aiming to start in 2012 instead of 2011 […]

NYT’s Revkin gives Inhofe a pass

So Sen. James "global warming is a hoax" Inhofe (R-Okla.) issues a report in which he claims:

Over 400 prominent scientists from more than two dozen countries recently voiced significant objections to major aspects of the so-called "consensus" on man-made global warming.

"Padded" would be an extremely generous description of this list of "prominent scientists." Some would use the word "laughable" (though not the N.Y. Times' Andy Revkin, see below). For instance, since when have economists, who are pervasive on this list, become scientists, and why should we care what they think about climate science?

I'm not certain a dozen on the list would qualify as "prominent scientists," and many of those, like Freeman Dyson -- a theoretical physicist -- have no expertise in climate science whatsoever. I have previously debunked his spurious and uninformed claims, although I'm not sure why one has to debunk someone who seriously pushed the idea of creating a rocket ship powered by detonating nuclear bombs! Seriously.

Even Ray Kurzweil, not a scientist but a brilliant inventor, is on the list. Why? Because he apparently told CNN and the Washington Post:

These slides that Gore puts up are ludicrous, they don't account for anything like the technological progress we're going to experience ... None of the global warming discussions mention the word "nanotechnology." Yet nanotechnology will eliminate the need for fossil fuels within 20 years ... I think global warming is real but it has been modest thus far -- 1 degree f. in 100 years. It would be concern if that continued or accelerated for a long period of time, but that's not going to happen.

And people say I'm a techno-optimist. So Kurzweil actually believes in climate science -- rather than the reverse, as Inhofe claims -- but thinks catastrophic global warming won't happen because of a techno-fix that stops emissions. If wishes were horses ... everyone would get trampled to death. In the real world, energy breakthroughs are very rare, as we've seen, and it's even rarer when they make a difference in under several decades.

Then we have the likes of this from Inhofe's list:

U.S. EPA proposes easing reporting requirements for factory farms

The U.S. EPA has proposed a “better approach” to making factory farms report their levels of air-polluting emissions — don’t make ’em report them at all! Under a proposal put forth today, commercial livestock operations would not have to report hazardous chemical pollution if the source was animal waste. The rule change, which would exempt […]

New fishing quotas and Japanese whaling ships on notice

The European Union set quotas for 2008, with an 18 percent decrease for cod in most trawling areas except the North Sea, where quotas were raised by 11 percent. Scientists had pushed for cuts to less than half of 2006 levels ...

... the Swedish Board of Fisheries found that no cod had spawned in the waters between Sweden and Denmark this year ...

... two New Zealand fishing companies aimed to earn the Marine Stewardship Council's environmental standard for their Patagonian toothfish (Chilean sea bass) catch ...

...Australia announced plans to send planes and a ship to surveil Japanese whaling ships, and will use the photographs and video gathered in potential future legal action to force Japan to recognize a ban on hunting whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary ...

Safe, energy-efficient holiday lights

I hope you've all bought LED lighting for your trees -- they are much more efficient and safer, too, because they generate less heat! We have, and so has the White House and Rockefeller Center (see below).

Here is an Electric Power Research Institute fact sheet (PDF) to answer all your questions on LED vs. conventional Christmas lights (PDF).

Happy Holidays!

This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

The Best of Grist List 2007

Art attack With more subtlety than a “wash me” message, reverse graffiti artists have hit the streets to take a bite out of grime. And as to the softer side of urban art? Knitta, please. Photo: Alexandre Orion Go fuzz yourself The hatas who wanted to give Knut the boot better watch their backs ’cause […]

Top green food stories of 2007

“…to make whole what has been smashed…” — Walter Benjamin, Theses on the Philosophy of History All over the country, communities are organizing to establish food sovereignty. From low-income neighborhoods in Milwaukee to Detroit and Brooklyn, to the very heart of industrial agriculture, people are getting their hands dirty and building up their own alternatives […]