Latest Articles
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A response to Shellenberger & Nordhaus from David Hawkins of NRDC
The following is a guest essay from David Hawkins, director of the Climate Center at the Natural Resources Defense Council. —– Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger are two passionate but confused individuals. They lambaste “environmentalists” for being fixated with a “pollution paradigm” that operates by “limiting human power” and by “increasing the cost of dirty […]
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U.S. industry may well help push climate legislation through the Senate this session
Joe Lieberman says that comprehensive climate legislation in the Senate is more likely this session than people think (sub. rqd.), and that debate will probably get underway later this year or early next. But the reason he gives isn’t exactly comforting: The Connecticut independent said U.S. industry has shifted on the global warming debate and […]
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U.S. agencies don’t prioritize public in toxin-affected communities
The U.S. Department of Energy found high levels of toxic hydrogen sulfide in the soil of suburban Versailles, Pa., and has neglected to inform local officials. The U.S. EPA was lackadaisical about cleaning up toxic paint sludge left by automaker Ford in Trenton, N.J., and disregarded complaints from the community. Luckily, those failures of the […]
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Tune in to the Live Earth Concert Special tonight
A CliffsNotes version of the summer’s 24-hour eco-music event will air tonight on MyNetworkTV. The two-hour "Live Earth — The Concert Special" promises clips of the hottest performances from the seven-continent concert for a climate in crisis — as well as tips for making eco-changes in your daily life. Check MyNetworkTV for local airtimes and […]
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Bush admin talks up voluntary actions with strong words at D.C. climate summit
President Bush’s climate summit of the world’s top polluters kicked off yesterday in Washington, D.C., with rhetoric aplenty and the arrest of some 49 protesters from Greenpeace and other environmental groups outside the State Department offices. Meanwhile, inside the conference, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice talked up the need for strong climate action even while […]
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Hansen erroneously accused of predicting an ice age
After I heard a claim that our nation's top climate scientist "once warned of Ice Age" -- I (and no doubt many others) emailed Hansen and said he should reply to the rapidly morphing and spreading myth. He has here (PDF).
I will reprint what he has to say below (you can also go to that link for an interesting commentary, "Please talk to your grandfather"):
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Climate protesters arrested outside State Department
Greenpeace executive director John Passacantando was among 50 activists arrested today outside the State Department, protesting Bush’s farcical climate meetings.
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Conservative candidate in Ontario will expand nuclear power industry, if elected
Me, a month ago: What the Ontario election needs is for the parties to talk more about energy issues!
Me, a few days ago: Crud.
Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory said Saturday that environmental approval for energy projects is operating at a snail's pace, and if his party comes to power, he will revitalize the province's nuclear sector.
I would so love for the expansion of nuclear power to not be the one point of agreement between the two biggest parties in my province.
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Clinton’s push for sustainable development dismissed by World Bank prez
The opening plenary was fascinating. Clinton explained how CGI commitments had already avoided 20,000,000 tons of greenhouse gases. Then he tried to get Robert Zoellick, head of the World Bank, to realize that the "Bank can show people options for sustainable development."
Zoellick, however, was full of little more than platitudes, saying we need to address "questions of adaptation and mitigation," and noting that there is a sensitivity in the developing world that climate change funds will come at the expense of development -- totally missing Clinton's point that green development is the only winning path (and Gore's point that global warming, left unchecked, will negate all other efforts aimed at development).
Clinton, however, persisted -- especially after H. Lee Scott, CEO of Wal-Mart, touted his various successes:
