Latest Articles
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China and India have joined Kyoto, they just have different obligations, as is morally appropriate
(Part of the How to Talk to a Global Warming Skeptic guide)
Objection: Why should the U.S. join Kyoto while India and China haven't?
Answer: The U.S. puts out more CO2 than any other nation on earth, including China and India, by a large margin. Considering the relative populations (a billion-plus each for China and India versus 300 million in the U.S.), per capita emissions in the U.S. are many times larger. This has been true for the past 100-plus years of CO2 pollution.
For the U.S. to refuse to take any steps until India and China do the same is like the fattest man at the table, upon realizing the food is running out, demanding that the hungry people who just sat down cut back just as much as him, at the same time.
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Tom Friedman, erstwhile Great Green Hope
Tom Friedman of the NYT gets a lot of love around here as the green movement’s great popularizer, someone whose plain-spoken pronouncements can convince politicians and plain folks alike to act on climate change, etc. So what’s up with the so-called Mustache of Understanding puffing vigorously into his rhetorical trumpet (sub. required) in favor of […]
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Property rights measures are about stifling community
You see, this is what I was talking about.
From today's Oregonian:
The Clackamas County Board of Commissioners decided Tuesday to speed the processing of claims made under Oregon's Measure 37 property rights law by preventing residents from testifying about filings. The commissioners will approve valid Measure 37 claims without question or public comment.
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Thoughts from a small farm during the midwinter lull
Before I became a farmer three growing seasons ago, I lived in Brooklyn, N.Y., and reveled in the array of top-flight local produce available from mid-spring to late fall. Long about January, though, a kind of local-food withdrawal would set in. Frosty, with a chance of failure. Photo: iStockphoto By this time of year, the […]
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Umbra on that time of the month, again
Dear Umbra, You mentioned in “Kid Commando” that the “disposable vs. reusable diaper fight is in a stalemate for the foreseeable future.” Is the same true for sanitary napkins? Clara Yuan Ithaca, N.Y. Dearest Clara, I haven’t heard tell of the debate, frankly. I certainly get several “which is better” diaper questions a month, but […]
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On the year ahead for greens
The folks at Tom Paine asked me to write a piece on a green agenda for the coming year. I tried to tackle three points: We’re in a chaotic, transitional period on energy and environmental issues. Circumstances are uniquely aligned for green progress. Several economically powerful and politically connected interests will be trying to take […]
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Fails
Whereas Tony Blair just makes me feel vaguely sad, the British press never fails to delight me. No pretense of objectivity here, no sir.
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About climate change, that is
After years of having any mention of anthropogenic climate change purged from press releases and public statements, NOAA public affairs officials express shock that the agency has finally stated the obvious.
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U.S. automakers don’t know what all the climate change fuss is about
In public, American automakers are trying to put on a chipper new green face. In private: Chrysler’s chief economist Van Jolissaint has launched a fierce attack on “quasi-hysterical Europeans” and their “Chicken Little” attitudes to global warming. … Mr Jolissaint was speaking at a private breakfast where the chief economists of the “Big Three” US […]
