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Articles by Ken Ward

Ken Ward is a climate campaigner and carpenter whose work can be see here.

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  • 350 vs. 450: The heart of the matter

    There has never been a civic dispute as precisely quantified as climate. Most U.S. environmental organizations endorse the Waxman-Markey climate bill with the stated goal of keeping atmospheric greenhouse gases below 450 parts per million. The conservative position enunciated by Jim Hansen, advanced by Bill McKibben and 350.org, and endorsed by a handful of climate […]

  • Fighting climate chaos with a hammer and a heart

    The intro question for the first gathering of 350.org activists in Massachusetts early this month was, “How do you feel, personally, about climate change?” Having worked on the agenda, I should have been prepared — but it still stumped me. When I spoke, it was a distillation of five years of hard thinking and writing; […]

  • Why do U.S. environmentalists remain irrationally committed to a losing strategy?

    Watching the remains of a movement strain our every organizational fiber to advance a climate bill we know is a travesty reminds me of G.K. Chesterton’s observation about sex: the pleasure is momentary, the position ridiculous, and the expense damnable. Waxman-Markey ought to be opposed by U.S. environmentalists for obvious and pragmatic reasons — street […]

  • We're F*cked

    Very interesting, very positive response from 200+ at  American Friends Service Committee conference on the triple threats of security, economy and climate to blunt assessment of the state of climate change and climate politics. Another strong indicator that our organizations are fast losing touch.