Climate Climate & Energy
All Stories
-
Burning Coal + Hot Days = Unhealthy Air Warnings
Yesterday and today are code orange unhealthy air alert days in the Washington, DC, region where I live. The 95+ degree temperatures and excessive ground-level ozone create extremely unhealthy air – especially for kids, senior citizens, and people with pre-existing health conditions. These aren’t the first days this summer where we’ve had these warnings, and […]
-
Rising Temperatures Raise Food Prices
Around midnight on Wednesday, August 11th, a group of commodity analysts will gather at a meeting site in the massive South Building of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Washington, D.C. Once they are assembled, the door will be locked. Cell phones will be collected. Phone and Internet lines will be disconnected. Short of […]
-
My Lexus debate
I was part of a live debate in Chicago this past Thursday, facing off against Steve Everley of American Solutions at an event sponsored by Lexus and Patron and moderated by Mark McGrath, who you may remember as the frost-tipped lead singer of the band Sugar Ray, beloved to millions for their 1997 hit "Fly." Yes, that's all as weird as it sounds.
-
How will you celebrate global warming's 35th birthday?
Global warming will get a whopping 35 candles on its birthday cake on Aug. 8. It was in 1975 that the phrase first appeared in scientific literature.
-
The Climate Premium: Russian Fires Cause Wheat Prices to Skyrocket
The world’s breakfast eaters are about to get a hot, steaming serving of climate change with their bagels and croissants. In response to the climate change-fueled fires sweeping the Russian bread basket, Russia on Thursday banned grain exports, driving global prices to $7.83 a bushel, almost double their June low. This is the real climate […]
-
Meanwhile, back at the global negotiations
The bad news is that the climate/energy push just crashed and burned in the Senate. The good news is that, in the wake of that crash, the U.S. climate community is having a Big Think, one of the best in years. The last time we had such an exchange was back after what, for lack of a better term, I will call the Copenhagen Disappointment. Which raises an interesting question -- do we only debate, openly and seriously, after we lose?
-
'Policy tags' should relace offsets if we really want to solve climate change
What are the best offsets to buy to address guest travel? Answer: None. Instead, sell a policy tag that contributes the same amount to policy action.
-
Drilling f-ed the Gulf; now will New York get fracked by drilling too?
Drill, baby, drill. First the Gulf gets oiled-up and spit out by BP -- but now, will drilling for natural gas leave New York literally nauseous?
-
The spill may be killed, but bad news still plagues BP
BP's "static kill" seems to have sealed the Deepwater Horizon leak. The leak may be plugged, but the bad news gushes on.
-
How America Can Lead the Clean Energy Race
U.S. economic leadership is at a crossroads. Recent outlooks suggest we may experience long-term stagnation and unemployment comparable to Japan’s lost decade. Yet while we have suffered an economic crisis produced by our own financial sector – losing millions of jobs, trillions in economic output, and further damaging our industrial base – China has largely […]