Latest Articles
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Vicious attack ends up undermining Russian environmental movement
A vicious attack on anti-nuclear protesters in Russia this summer has had the unexpected outcome of undermining the country’s environmental movement, after the son of a high-profile green leader confessed to having a role in the melee. Marina Rikhvanova had been successful at inspiring grassroots activism in Russia — particularly against the government’s plans to […]
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Inhofe challenger the real deal
As a coda to DR's political obituary of Inhofe, let me add that I spent a few hours with challenger Andrew Rice last Thursday. My takeaway? Game on.
He's smart and charismatic, and he has a compelling story. He understands politics.
He's also picked a great opponent. In politics, people are more motivated by hate than love, and, well, there's not a lot of people whose name don't begin with Exxon or end in Mobil with Inhofe on their Valentine's list. Inhofe's 'definite re-elect' numbers are in the pits.
I spent some time around Jerry McNerney when he took on Pombo. Bless his heart, he had a lot of wonderful qualities, but Rice strikes me as a better public speaker and campaigner.
Here's my prediction: Rice will make it competitive. Then this race is going to get nationalized.
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European Parliament votes to require car ads include warnings on CO2 emissions
The European Parliament recently voted that car ads must include warnings on vehicle CO2 emissions. If the rule successfully negotiates the rest of the European Union legislative process, 20 percent of a car ad would have to warn or educate consumers about the CO2 emitted from the vehicles advertised, as well as their fuel consumption. […]
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Nearly one-third of world’s primates at risk of extinction, report says
About 29 percent of the world’s 394 primate species are at risk of extinction, according to a report by the World Conservation Union. Threats to primates include hunting for primate meat and bones, the trade in wildlife body parts, and habitat destruction mostly from logging and clearing land for agriculture. The report focused on the […]
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A new int’l org works toward a global carbon market, leaves U.S. federal gov’t out
Interesting. Across the transom comes news of a new treaty, the International Carbon Action Partnership, signed today by a collection of countries and U.S. states that have implemented carbon cap-and-trade systems. The idea is to share knowledge and work to standardize best practices in order to facilitate the growth of a global carbon market. From […]
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We have plenty of solutions at hand beyond technology
Today the dominant view of global warming is that it's a technical problem. The burning of fossil fuels -- often regarded as the lifeblood of modern economies -- puts greenhouse gases into the air, mainly carbon dioxide, trapping more solar energy, which heats the planet and alters weather patterns. Methane and nitrous oxide also contribute. The solution is defined as reducing greenhouse gas emissions (pollution). The political, social, and moral campaign is directed at technological change, and at using our technology less.
But if everyone stopped burning fossil fuels tomorrow, global warming will continue for decades. We don't have an economical technology for removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Limiting ourselves to technology-focused solutions doesn't give us much leverage. It gives us an agenda of "let's wreck the world slower."
There is another side to global warming, one that existing scientific panels are ill-equipped to recognize and that existing institutions are ill-equipped to act on. Global warming is not just an atmospheric pollution problem caused by fossil fuel burning. It is also the result of changes in basic biospheric processes. Let's look at some examples.
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An electrified transit advocate tries soothsaying
Maybe too optimistic, but very little untried technology in here, so it's at least a possible future.
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B.C. considers a carbon tax
In 1998, shortly after Sightline (then Northwest Environment Watch) published Tax Shift (PDF), Gordon Campbell, then BC's opposition leader, invited me for a sit-down to discuss the book. He had read it and said he loved it. At the time, the New Democratic BC government was gearing up to do a pilot tax shift, inspired by the book. It was also about to be routed in provincial elections, to be replaced by Campbell's Liberals.
Campbell said, "In our first term, we're not going to shift taxes. We're going to lower them. But in our second term, we might." I didn't put much stock in his words.
Maybe I should have.
Friday's Globe and Mail reports that Campbell's Finance Minister Carole Taylor is seriously considering introducing North America's first real carbon tax, paired with reduced income taxes. She calls it a "tax shift."
Imagine that.
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Bits and pieces, pieces and bits
It’s a weekend and my browser overfloweth. You know what that means. Lightning round! Over on DKos, Devilstower is writing an excellent series of posts on mountaintop-removal mining. Pay attention: However, you have an option. You can call your representative and ask them to support the Clean Water Protection Act. The act already has 103, […]
