Latest Articles

Link dump

As always, I regret having to do this sort of post, but there's only so much stuff one man can write about (and still make time for his quest to view the entire Gilmore Girls corpus over the course of a single summer).

Inhofe responds to AP with flurry of BS

Look, I know that politicians aren't anything like they were portrayed on The West Wing (see Ezra Klein and Gene Healy on the matter). I know they're not all dignified and statesmanlike. But c'mon.

Mere hours after the appearance of an Associated Press story about scientists verifying the accuracy of Al Gore's movie, the office of Sen. James Inhofe has cranked out a press release that reads like a parody of a frothing rightwing blogger (if that's even possible any more).

Have a look:

Rep. Henry Waxman’s Safe Climate Act

For weeks now, I've had an open tab in Firefox with Rep. Henry Waxman's Safe Climate Act languishing in it, waiting for my loving bloggy ministrations.

Today, I finally had a look, and Ana's right -- this is a more powerful and more sensible plan that the one Kerry described yesterday. The main reason, in my view, is not so much the stronger ultimate target (80% vs. 65% below 2000 emissions by the year 2050) but the incrementalism -- precisely the problem ffletcher identified. Here's the capsule version of the plan:

• Science tells us that we face a grave risk of irreversible and devastating global warming if global temperatures increase by more than 3.6°F.
• The bill sets greenhouse gas emissions targets that aim to keep temperatures below the danger point.  The level of emissions is frozen in 2010 and then gradually reduced each year through 2050.
• The bill achieves these targets through a flexible economy-wide cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gas emissions, along with measures to advance technology and reduce emissions through renewable energy, energy efficiency, and cleaner cars.

Here's how the targets will work:

Nuclear plant licensed

This was inevitable:

ALBUQUERQUE -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued its first license for a major commercial nuclear facility in 30 years, allowing an international consortium to build what will be the nation's first private fuel source for commercial nuclear power plants.

Construction of the $1.5 billion National Enrichment Facility, under review for the past 2 1/2 years, could begin in August, and the plant could be ready to sell enriched uranium by early 2009, said James Ferland, president of the consortium of nuclear companies, Louisiana Energy Services.

This is laughable:

Blog democracy scares the pants off of media traditionalists.

This ignorant blather about green blogs echoes many, many similar critiques from crusty old farts who fear the democratization of media. Without the "gatekeepers" of the traditional media, they cry, why, just anything can be published! By anyone! Even someone of ... low upbringing!

Indeed, Mr. Ladle fears that unless the onrush of rabble is tamed and domesticated, "we run the risk of creating a generation of eco-illiterate consumers and voters at a crucial time for the Earth's diminishing resources."

Yes, we wouldn't want to risk that. Why damage all the fine work the established media has done educating consumers and voters about environmental matters?

Um, actually it matters whether global warming is human-caused or not.

Yesterday, President Bush said:

There's a debate over whether (global warming) is manmade or naturally caused. We ought to get beyond that debate and start implementing the technologies necessary to enable us to achieve a couple of big objectives -- one, be good stewards of the environment; two, become less dependent on foreign sources of oil for economic reasons and for national security reasons.

I've heard him mention "getting beyond" that debate before, and it doesn't make sense to me. This doesn't seem like the kind of debate that can just be put aside. If it's the case that human activity is driving rapid global warming, then obviously scaling back GHG emissions should be our first priority. If it's the case that human activity isn't driving global warming -- that warming is part of a natural cycle -- then reducing GHG emissions isn't a priority at all.

Scientists: Gore is right

Ah, so the MSM isn't useless after all! This AP story by my beloved Seth Borenstein is just delicious:

WASHINGTON - The nation's top climate scientists are giving "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore's documentary on global warming, five stars for accuracy.

But wait! What do conservative op-ed writers think about it? Where's the balance, Borenstein?

And just to further tickle me, we get this little jab at the end:

While more than 1 million people have seen the movie since it opened in May, that does not include Washington's top science decision makers. President Bush said he won't see it. The heads of the Environmental Protection Agency and NASA haven't seen it, and the president's science adviser said the movie is on his to-see list.

Scrumptious.

(via TP)

Interview with makers of Who Killed the Electric Car?

Hoping to share a little bit of the spotlight with that other eco-themed documentary -- alongside which it debuted at the Sundance film festival -- Who Killed the Electric Car? will drive (without emissions!) into theaters next month (or tomorrow, if you're in NYC or L.A.).

On June 9, I sat down for a wide-ranging discussion with Chris Paine, the director, Chelsea Sexton, an activist prominently featured in the film, and Wally Rippel, an engineer who played a role in developing the power system for the late, lamented GM EV-1.

For still more electric-car interview fun, go here.

-----

DR: So I started watching this movie, about this one peculiar car, and then about halfway through all the sudden I'm watching a movie about fuel economy and global warming and energy security. Did you use the former as a hook for the latter, or did the former just carry you into the latter?

CP: That's an excellent question. When I started filming I wasn't thinking [about the bigger issues], but by the time we were editing it's like, this is such a great microcosm.

It's more than a car story, you know. I mean, much more than a car story.

DR: How did you hear about the EV? I'm sure I'm not the only one who had no idea it even existed before the movie came out.

Where in the U.S. are they?

MapMuse can help you find the country's ethanol 85 and biodiesel filling stations.

650ish E85 stations, 350 biodiesel stations, and counting.

Pollster accepts thermodynamics; blogosphere swoons

All right, that's three blogs now (one, two, three) that have found it notable that GOP pollster Frank Luntz -- he of the infamous memo -- has accepted the science of global warming.

Why is this significant? He's a pollster, a political strategist. His opinion on global warming is no more significant than, say, the thousands of scientists who have actually, you know, done original research on the subject.

Unlike the right, the left has never gained a full appreciation for the power of disdain. Another dead-ender finally sensed the political winds shifting? Fine, he can move up to the long bus. But otherwise, so what.