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YearlyKos: Meyerson and Stern

Watching Harold Meyerson (editor in chief of The American Prospect) and Andy Stern (head of SIEU) chat about … stuff. Stern says of the 100 largest financial institutions in the world, 50 are countries and 50 are companies. He says all progressives are fighting against the same foes, these multinational corporations, and it’s high time […]

Give away rights or sell them?

Joseph Romm in his post on Dingell's carbon tax proposal says:

Politically, you can't raise carbon prices high enough to raise gasoline prices since even $1 a gallon -- probably the minimum to significantly change fuel economy if Europe is any evidence -- would require a carbon charge of $400 per tonne of carbon -- which would be very harsh to coal, adding more than 10 cents per kilowatt-hour to coal electricity, and politically impossible (I'll post more on this later).

Also, the reason cap-and-trade has not worked well in Europe is that the Europeans didn't have a lot of experience with it and during their trial period they issued too many permits.

I don't know If Romm noticed, but paragraph two represents exactly the same weakness for caps as paragraph one represents for a carbon tax: it is politically difficult to get a high-enough tax or a low-enough cap through. Romm also notes that the Clinton administration could not get through even a weak carbon tax. True enough, but the Clinton administration also could not get through ratification of the Kyoto treaty -- which would have included a really easily met cap, much weaker than most (though not all) of the cap-and-trade proposals now before Congress.

From Vegans to Vengeance

Meat-free market Tired of cracks about the size of their sausage, some vegans have decided to have sex only with each other. Vegansexuals “taste a lot better,” says one — and in their world, soys doesn’t matter. Photo: iStockphoto Ears to you Nu metal band Korn have cobbled together plans for a green tour, complete […]

More from YearlyKos foreign policy panel

Hey, look, somebody asked a question about energy in the foreign policy panel! Beinart says this issue has undergone a sea change — everyone’s talking about it. Clemons says the global oil situation is heading in a grim direction. On domestic renewables: "There’s a corrupt game going on between those like James Woolsey who just […]

At last, a use for that old Milli Vanilli CD

Long ago, I promised an interview component to Ask a Brokeass. I’ve talked to some badass brokeasses since then, but I haven’t gotten around to transcribing all of those interviews. The intern needs an intern. Then last week I received an email from Mark Hexamer, co-founder of the innovative new media trading site Swaptree.com, who […]

Man, the Arctic is Hot

Russia plants flag under North Pole, India launches its first Arctic expedition Earlier this week, we reported that Russia was planning to stake a claim on the North Pole. Or, rather, the seabed deep underneath. Yesterday, two mini-submarines planted a titanium national flag on the sea floor, causing celebration in Moscow and consternation in Canada, […]

Freight Fright

Organic farmers in Africa fear for their livelihoods as U.K. frets over food miles Small-scale organic farmers in Kenya and other African countries are waiting anxiously to find out whether the U.K.’s main organic certifier, the Soil Association, will withdraw organic certification from food items that are flown in from far-flung regions. Concerned that the […]

Scurry Up and Wait

With August recess looming, Congress pushes energy, climate, water bills Know how, when you’re about to go on vacation, you suddenly realize you have a ton of work to do, so you scramble to finish it all, and you do kind of a half-assed job, but you promise yourself you’ll deal with the loose ends […]

Hi from YearlyKos

Got in last night — had a wonderful dinner at Green Zebra (a runner up on our list of green restaurants). Now I’m in the convention center, listening to Steve Clemons and Peter Beinart talk about progressive foreign policy. I’ve never seen so many laptops in one room. It’s a little maddening to be out […]

And sporting even more green efforts than last year

Hold on to your long boards, ladies and gentlemen, the Summer X Games is now underway in sunny Los Angeles, Calif. And while I can’t say I personally would compete in a sport where one must hurl oneself through the air and then land oneself atop a foot-long piece of wood on wheels, I do […]