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Easy ways to cut your energy use, one day at a time

Grist prez Chip Giller appeared on NBC’s Today show on Monday, Nov. 5, chatting with Meredith Vieira about easy ways anyone can cut their energy use and help fight global warming. Follow one hint a day and you’re on your way! Day 1: Turn Down the Heat Here’s a quick, easy solution that will save […]

Sparks fly when the mayors meet the Congressfolk

The last event at this weekend’s mayors conference was a field hearing by the House global warming committee. The witnesses were: Mayor Bloomberg, City of New York Mayor Diaz, City of Miami, Florida Mayor Nickels, City of Seattle, Washington Mayor Palmer, City of Trenton, New Jersey Committee hearings tend to be pretty staid affairs, but […]

A lovely video on Time

Over on Swampland, Ana Marie Cox has a nice video on "the green gap" between the parties, triggering off Grist’s campaign coverage.

Do the experts know anything about oil prices?

Finally, after a four-month stretch in which oil prices rose from under $70 to over $95, oil industry analysts seem to have caught on that prices are rising. From Bloomberg news (emphasis added):

Twenty-one of 35 analysts surveyed, or 60 percent, said oil prices will rise through Nov. 9 ... Respondents [had] predicted price drops in the previous 16 weeks.

That's right, for each of the preceding 16 weeks, the consensus of oil industry experts was that prices would fall in the coming week. They were right five times, wrong 11 times -- and crude prices rose by over a third during the stretch. So much for expertise.

Over the longer term, the oil industry analysts haven't fared much better:

People open to lifestyle changes, fuel taxes to address warming, says poll

Four out of five people believe individuals must make personal lifestyle changes to address global warming, according to a BBC poll of 22,182 people in 21 countries. Also of note: Half of poll respondents favored a higher tax on oil and coal, while 44 percent would prefer their dirty fuels remain dirt cheap — although […]

The Congressional Budget Office savages the Lieberman-Warner approach to climate change pol

America’s Climate Security Act, the Senate climate bill offered by Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Warner (R-Va.), offers enormous giveaways to the nation’s biggest polluters, in the form of billions of dollars worth of free pollution permits, which won’t be zeroed out until 2036. Last Thursday, while the bill was passing through subcommittee, the non-partisan […]

Some reflections on the strengths and weaknesses of Hillary’s new proposal

Efficiency and permit auctions and R&D, oh my! Hillary Clinton released her comprehensive energy and climate plan today. It is thoughtful, comprehensive, and though disappointingly conventional in a few areas, inspiringly bold in others. With the release of Clinton’s plan, all three Democratic frontrunners for the presidency now have visionary, far-reaching energy plans that would […]

Louisiana will crack down on oil industry waste-disposal practices

Oil companies accustomed to a hodgepodge of regulation will soon see stricter oversight from a new initiative in Louisiana, which will pool the resources of 15 state and federal offices to crack down on Big Oil’s waste-disposal practices. The program will train some 100 field officers to identify oil and brine-water spills in the Gulf […]

Call your senator today

As most people following the story know by now, the 2007 Farm Bill is looking pretty grim with respect to fundamental reform. The U.S. government seems hell-bent on pushing a policy that on balance rewards farmers for gross output at all costs — environmental considerations be damned. However, as the Senate debates the ag committee’s […]

A conference call with Clinton’s energy advisors, about her new energy plan

I was just on a conference call with the Clinton campaign’s energy advisors, who were answering questions from the press. A couple of interesting tidbits: I noted that the cap-and-trade system laid out by Clinton dramatically exceeds what’s contained in the Lieberman-Warner bill, both in terms of the permit auctions and the overall targets, and […]