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The winners? ED, NRDC, The Pew Center for Climate Change, and other familiar faces

The first round of grants (PDF) from the $100 million climate fund established last year by the Doris Duke Foundation were announced last week. Funding priorities and grant recipients were identified in an exhaustive 18-month process of extensive literature reviews and interviews with more than 75 distinguished scientists, economists, environmental leaders, investors, energy industry representatives, and public policy experts.

The result?

A total of $3.6 million will be distributed to five environmental organizations -- ED and NRDC ($500K), Pew Center on Global Climate Change ($395K), World Resources Institute ($750K), and Resources for the Future ($750K) -- and two universities -- Harvard ($750K) and MIT ($500K). Three climate action strategies will be pursued:

1. devise "optimal domestic and international pricing policies for carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases";
2. develop policies "that bring available technologies to market more quickly"; and,
3. "identify adjustments" to reduce climate-change impacts.

That the $100 million Duke Foundation fund will be expended on a decades-old strategy that has not worked is no surprise, as no coherent alternative to our present approach is available. However, the Duke Foundation announcement may portend change in two important respects.

Bangers and Gnash

Brits raise a fuss over less-frequent rubbish collection Baffled Brits are raising a stink over a policy that’s become popular with local councils in their country: collecting trash every two weeks instead of weekly. Enacted by about 40 percent of councils, the practice — which alternates the pick-up of trash and recyclables — aims to […]

Beyond Pathetic

BP allowed to increase waste discharges into Lake Michigan The ugly (and imaginary) conflict between environment and economy has reared its head in Indiana, where state and federal regulators granted exemptions that will allow oil giant BP to discharge more waste from a refinery straight into Lake Michigan. You may recall that BP is moving […]

Replacing Oil With, Uh, More Oil

National Petroleum Council pictures life after conventional crude There’s a new voice in the crowd shrieking about waning oil supplies: the National Petroleum Council. OK, they’re not actually shrieking. But in a draft report released this week, the group — headed by former Exxon CEO Lee Raymond — confirms that conventional crude oil supplies won’t […]

A Barrel of Gaffes

Earthquake causes nuclear headaches in Japan A strong earthquake hit northwestern Japan yesterday morning, and aftershocks continued into the night. The 6.8-magnitude quake killed at least nine people, injured more than 900 others, and flattened houses and highways. It also led to a fire, leak, and waste spills at a powerful nuclear plant. The Kashiwazaki […]

Very interesting

Here’s an interview with Gilbert Metcalf, a Tufts University economics professor who’s been circulating a carbon tax proposal (PDF) that’s revenue neutral — it uses the carbon tax revenue to reduce other taxes. It’s called the "Green Tax Swap." Good stuff. Here’s one good bit : SM: Rep. John Dingell said he plans to propose […]

New book on hurricanes and global warming

On his site, science writer Chris Mooney recently posted a fascinating pair of graphs, courtesy of collaborator Matt Nisbet, which chart public interest in global warming.

As the years march by, the charts show what happens when scientific reports are released, when politics intervene -- and when hurricanes strike, as measured by coverage at the Washington Post and the New York Times.

What the graphs show is that in these thoughtful newspapers, political and scientific developments can spur stories, but when hurricanes strike, global warming coverage -- and, presumably public interest -- soars.

This is why Mooney's new book, Storm World, matters -- even though the writer takes every possible opportunity to remind readers that we cannot definitively link global warming to any hurricane.

The book matters because our fears as a nation do link global warming and hurricanes, and when it comes to modern-day hurricanes the size of Texas, as we saw in 2005, our eyes open wide.

Turns out consumers don’t care that much

New market research finds: The majority of consumers really don’t care all that much about the environment. Green simply doesn’t has not captured the public imagination. … The fact is, the amount of media interest given to the environment far exceeds the amount of consumer interest. Joel Makower has more.

Boeing’s new Dreamliner plane boasts increased fuel efficiency

A few years ago, Boeing was struggling. Sales were slipping, financial forecasts grim. Meanwhile Airbus, a foreign competitor, passed the former champ in total sales. Now the tables are turned. There are several reasons for the stellar advance sales of Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner, but I can't help but point out one:

After years of research into lightweight carbon-fiber, which now replaces heavier aluminum for the jet's fuselage and wings, the Dreamliner can sail with an estimated 20-30 percent less fuel per passenger. What's the company's reasoning behind increasing fuel efficiency? It's better for business, of course.

Don’t let your ambition limit your reality

The quest to reduce carbon emissions is plagued by a near-pathological case of economic illiteracy.

This illiteracy has caused us to focus on the wrong problems, and the wrong solutions ... and it's stalled the realization of any politically tenable carbon reductions.

Ironically, while the goal of reducing carbon emissions has political allies and adversaries, the economic illiteracy is found on both sides. It has become self-reinforcing. The only solace is that the economists are just as guilty.