Latest Articles
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A review of a new doomer cult classic
Some years ago I was alerted to the problem of peak oil by a friend from Bellingham, Wash., way up in the upper left corner of the continental U.S. A nuclear physicist and astronomer, the smartest guy I know, and no doubt someone who uses the serial comma, he had this to say about a new movie called What a Way to Go: Life at the end of empire:
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Time to end the phony and historically inaccurate debate
This will, hopefully, be the last post devoted to debunking Shellenberger & Nordhaus.
As noted, S&N spend far more time attacking the environmental community and Al Gore (and even Rachel Carson!) than they do proposing a viable solution. Worse, they don't even attack the real environmental community -- they create a strawman that is mostly a right-wing stereotype of environmentalists.
Now it turns out they support the exact same thing the environmental community -- and energy technologists like me -- have been pushing for many years: an aggressive and intelligent regulatory strategy coupled with a significant increase in the energy R&D budget.
To my great surprise, they have taken up my challenge and endorsed Barack Obama's terrific climate plan. So why are we fighting? Only because S&N keep attacking, keep trying to rewrite history.
S&N claim over and over again that environmentalists don't support increases in clean energy budgets. They even claim I don't support an increase in the budget of the very office I ran at the Energy Department -- and that "'experts' like Romm" shift our analysis "after the political winds changed direction." Silly (and petty).
In this post, I will set the record straight.
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From Fashion to Faith
Shop it like it’s hot Hotter than we should be? Yup. So’s the earth, apparently. And these tees — signed by celebs and up on the auction block until tomorrow. Going once, going twice, sold to the Grist staffer with the hots for Martin Short. No-fly zone It may be the least carbon-intensive airplane ride […]
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This week in ocean news
Some 1,700 acres of English coast will be transformed from farmland to a saltwater marsh at a cost of £12 million (about $24.4 million) ...
... researchers tagged and released bluefin tuna in the western Atlantic in an attempt to track the species' perilous decline ...
... a Silicon Valley company is developing a way to eliminate excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by consuming it during the production of cement, a process known as "carbon sequestering" ...
... rescuers worked five hours to save a basking shark that had washed up on an east Scotland beach, but the shark eventually succumbed ...
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The CAFE standards vs. carbon tax debate is more complicated than we imagine
One of the most frustrating aspects of the climate debate has to be the fact that just about every informed pundit, across the ideological spectrum, agrees that a carbon tax would be an outstanding way to reduce carbon emissions — and yet no one considers such a tax politically feasible. One might suggest that if […]
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California condor still endangered by lead bullets
California condors came to the brink of extinction in the 1980s, largely from eating game felled by toxic lead bullets. A recovery effort has proved successful, but attempts to bring condors back into the wild have been frustrated by the birds’ continuing poisoned-carrion habit. More than one-third of condors released into the wild in California […]
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Right-wingers will do whatever Gore says not to
Better yet, maybe Gore will make a major speech telling people to not stick their tongues in wall sockets in an effort to save electricity. Afterward, expect lots of flickering lights in your neighborhood and fewer right-wing bloggers on the internets.
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Largest U.S. garbage hauler greens operations
Strange but true: Our trash is going green. The nation’s largest garbage hauler and landfill operator, Waste Management Inc., has announced plans to make its operations more eco-friendly. The company hopes to double its landfill methane-to-electricity production by 2020, boost the fuel efficiency of its fleet by 15 percent by 2020, process more recyclables, and […]
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The horrid misreporting on the case of the British judge and An Inconvenient Truth
There are three things you’re unlikely to learn from the mainstream media about the Case of the Nine Errors, wherein a British judge is said to have taken issue with the accuracy of An Inconvenient Truth. The parent who filed the suit, Stewart Dimmock, is a member of a far-right political group with ties to […]
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Reggae artist Michael Franti lets loose on inspiring social change
Michael Franti. Photo: anti.com/Megan Gentile “Everyone deserves music, sweet music,” Michael Franti sings in the title track from a 2003 album. The man behind Michael Franti & Spearhead — a band that blends hip-hop with jazz, folk, and funk music — also believes that everyone deserves health care, social justice, and a sustainable planet. And […]
