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Dingell endorses a cap-and-trade climate plan

Just days after releasing his carbon-and-gas tax proposal for public comment, House Energy and Commerce Chair John Dingell (D-Auto) -- along with Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Coal) of Virginia -- has released a report [PDF] endorsing an economy-wide cap-and-trade program.

In an odd but welcome turn, the 22-page white paper reads:

The United States should reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by between 60 and 80 percent by 2050 to contribute to efforts to address climate change. To do so, the United States should adopt an economy-wide, mandatory greenhouse gas reduction program.

Further white papers will be forthcoming, meant to ...

... address a number of other cap-and-trade design elements and additional topics, including: cap levels and timetables, measures for containing costs in a cap-and-trade program, carbon sequestration, offsets and credits, developing countries, distribution of allowances, and additional measures.

The bad news? "Government will distribute allowances equal to the level of allowed greenhouse emissions."

Stay tuned for updates.

Philly Eagles are green not just in uniform, and more

There’s an interesting interview in the NYT with Jeffrey Swartz, CEO of Timberland (not to be confused with Timbaland — he’s his own CEO, bee-yotch). Swartz is frustrated that Big Outdoor Wear worked to address child labor but hasn’t managed a concerted effort to significantly reduce its impact on the earth from making, transporting, and […]

The Solar Power Conference revealed no breakthrough solar tech — and that’s a good thing

The following is a guest essay by Jim Raras, Jr., COO of Inpower Systems. —– Every year the biggest players in the solar industry convene at the Solar Power Conference in Long Beach, Calif., to discuss the latest advancements in solar technology. This year, one of the most notable facets of the meetings was what […]

California A.G. petitions feds to regulate shipping emissions

California Attorney General Jerry Brown will join with environmental groups today to petition the Bush administration to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from ocean-going vessels. Shipping accounts for up to 5 percent of global GHG emissions, a number expected to grow 75 percent in the next 20 years. Ocean-going vessels make 11,000 calls at California’s ports each […]

The death of ‘The Death of Environmentalism’

What do Michael Crichton, Bjorn Lomborg, Frank Luntz, George W. Bush (and his climate/energy advisors) have in common with Michael Shellenberger & Ted Nordhaus? They all believe that (1) new "breakthrough" technologies are needed to solve the global warming problem and (2) investing in such technology is far more important than regulating carbon.

In fairness to President Bush -- he doesn't really believe those two things (as evidenced by the fact that he has actually cut funding for key carbon-reducing technologies), he just says them because conservative strategist Frank Luntz says it's the best way to sound like you care about global warming without doing anything about it.

The "breakthrough technology" message is certainly the cleverest one the deniers and delayers have invented -- who wouldn't rather have a techno-fix than higher energy prices? That's why Lomborg endorses it so much in his book, Cool It -- but it is certainly wrong and dangerously so, as I argue at length in my book.

Why two people who say they care about the environment -- Shellenberger & Nordhaus (S&N) -- embrace it, I don't understand. I won't waste time reading their new instant bestseller, unhelpfully titled Break Through, and you shouldn't either (Roger Pielke, Jr., and Gregg Easterbrook endorse it -- 'nuff said). I've read more than enough misinformation from them in their landmark essay,"The Death of Environmentalism," and recent articles in The New Republic (subs. req'd) and Gristmill (here and here).

S&N simply don't know what they're talking about. Worse, their message plays right into the hands of those who counsel delay. For that reason, I will spend some time debunking them. Here is the most dangerous S&N falsehood, from TNR:

Northwest Passage likely to be unpopular shipping route despite summer ice-free state

While the record melting of the Arctic’s sea ice this summer fully opened up the Northwest Passage for the first time since records began, it turns out few shippers would actually use the route even if the summer opening became more reliable. The shortcut route would shave off some 4,700 nautical miles from a typical […]

Always offer full-content RSS feeds

Warning: the following post is geeky. It’s about RSS feed options. Read only if you are fascinated by things like RSS feed options. These days, virtually every blog or news site offers one or more RSS feeds. RSS is still consumed by a fairly small sliver of the audience, but it’s a high-information, socially networked, […]

A look at Mike Huckabee’s environmental platform and record

Update: Mike Huckabee dropped out of the presidential race on Mar. 4, 2008. Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who served as governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007, touts energy independence as one of his top priorities. He dodges the issue of whether humans are responsible for global warming, saying we don’t know for sure, […]

Hansen’s response to a claim that he accepted money from George Soros

I don't know how NASA's James Hansen keeps up his pace of writing -- or how he puts up with the steady stream of disinformation launched against him. I am not trying to create a cult of personality around him, but I do feel under some obligation to give his writing as much attention as possible -- as I think he has done more than any other scientist to raise awareness on climate change, and deserves our thanks, not slander.

"The latest swift-boating," Hansen explains in a new post (PDF), "is the whacko claim that I received $720,000.00 from George Soros." Here is a smear from Investors Business Daily, of all places -- I have no idea why investors would be interested in such drivel -- which migrated over to the conservative websight NewsBusters in an article titled, "Is Global Warming Alarmist James Hansen a Shill for George Soros?"

Hansen explains, "Here is the real deal, with the order of things, as well as I can remember without wasting even more time digging into papers and records":

The City of Love unveils an emissions reduction plan

Speaking of the scheming of the French, Paris has pledged to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions 30 percent by 2020. Gosh, who isn’t introducing such plans these days? Oh. Right.