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Climate change politics is in flux

Ha. I claimed just below that policymakers are unusually open to climate and energy issues right now -- and five seconds later I stumbled across a Reuters article: "Climate change catching voter attention around world." To wit:

Check out the latest entries in the celeb-biofuels biz

You’ve heard of BioWillie, Willie Nelson’s foray into the world of celebrity-branded biodiesel. But did you know that several other celebs, not to be outdone, have plans to unveil their own biofuel lines? During our series, Grist has been doused with requests from PR professionals to promote their clients’ fuelish products. We’re only too happy […]

It’s all about electricity

When I talked with Terry Tamminen a while back (I'll publish it some day, I promise!), he said something that got me thinking. As Schwarzenegger's top enviro advisor, he's been on the inside, making policy and being lobbied from all sides. He's also been a part of several environmental NGOs, doing the lobbying. So he's seen policy contests from both sides.

I asked him why green groups haven't been more effective on climate and energy issues. He said it's simple: when the business lobby goes after an issue, it speaks with a single voice. The chamber of commerce, the think tanks, and all the constituent industry groups agree on what they want. Then they lay it out to lawmakers.

Green groups, on the other hand, come in willy nilly, with a dozen different proposals, all stressing different things, frequently criticizing each other. It's all about biofuels. No, it's all about hybrids. No, it's all about carbon taxes. Etc.

Politicians want to balance competing demands. They instinctively want to find the middle. But without a clear picture of what the environmental "side" is, they don't know where the middle is.

So how can green groups unify their message on climate/energy? What kind of agenda could they all get behind? How could they present a unified end-goal to policymakers?

That's a complicated question, of course. But I'd like to offer up at least one take on such an agenda, for your perusal and feedback. Here goes:

And support grinning green journalism in the new year.

Read what Summer Rayne Oakes -- model, hottie, and eco-advocate -- has to say on Grist's behalf, and the cool clothes she wants to give you. There's also a video. And a bike. And a Grand Canyon hike.

Oh, the excitement!

Donate to Grist now.

It’s not the key to making renewables work

In his post on the potential of our current grid to support electric cars, John McGrath mentioned V2G in passing.

Electric cars (either hybrids or full EVs) have the potential to be a real-life silver bullet. Anyone who advocates for increased use of renewables is inevitably confronted with the problem of intermittency. With wind, the rule of thumb is that if grid energy supplied by wind grows to more than 25-30%, utilities need to spend prohibitive amounts on "spinning reserve" to even out supply.

Well, a nation driving plug-in hybrids makes for a spinning reserve of amazing proportions according to one estimate (PDF), the U.S. fleet would power the U.S. electrical grid seven times over.

What these estimates neglect is the capital costs of the batteries themselves. The assumption seems to be that since car owners have the batteries anyway, the economics can be calculated based on operating costs -- electricity and inconvenience.

Umbra on holiday gifts for young folk

Dear Umbra, I’ve read Grist’s gift guide, but I didn’t see very many ideas for youths and young children. On the other hand, I did like the idea of giving The Lorax, which was mentioned in one of your other responses. Do you have any other eco-friendly gift suggestions for my nieces and nephews for […]

Home-grown and filthy energy

Kill me. Just kill me.

Coal-to-liquids will emerge as a key player in a push by congressional Democrats next year for alternatives to foreign oil, two Washington energy analysts say in a report today.

But CTL technologies that draw transportation fuels from coal reserves are expensive and have a mixed environmental record, so they will need "additional and substantial government subsidies," say Christine Tezak and K. Whitney Stanco of the Stanford Washington Research Group.

That "mixed environmental record" is actually an unmitigated disaster. But hey, at least we won't be importing our environmental disaster from scary brown foreigners!

Say it with me, kids: Coal is the enemy of the human race.

An interview with Missouri farmer and ethanol co-op member Brian Miles

Cultivating change? Photo: iStockphoto Like his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather before him, Brian Miles spends his days working the family farm. Unlike his forebears, however, he also sits on the board of Mid-Missouri Energy, a farmer-owned ethanol cooperative in Malta Bend, Mo. Grist talked to Miles about the present ethanol boom, the potential for an […]

A moment of silence

The white dolphin known as baiji, shy and nearly blind, dates back some 20 million years. Its disappearance is believed to be the first time in a half-century, since hunting killed off the Caribbean monk seal, that a large aquatic mammal has been driven to extinction.

Situation Normal, All Ducked Up

Feds won’t make livestock-identification plan mandatory Surprising exactly no one, a federal plan to track all U.S. livestock with ID tags remains controversial with farmers. Surprising some, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has given up on making it mandatory. Intended to trace disease and to combat — wait for it — agroterrorism, the National Animal […]