Climate Climate & Energy
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Renewable Energy Solution of the Month – Wind
That there is power in the wind is not a new discovery, man has been using it for thousands of years. What most people don’t realize is how much experimentation has been going on in this century. there is no shortage of energy..
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In the age of electric cars, who pays for highways?
Charging up a Chevy Volt. Photo courtesy mkooiman via FlickrHere’s a conundrum as the electric-car future arrives: Once we all start hitting the highway in our Nissan Leafs, Chevy Volts and Think City’s, who’s going to pay for our roads? State and federal excise taxes on every gallon of gasoline sold in the United States […]
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Accident expert weighs in on Gulf oil spill
Charles PerrowRegulation, regulation, regulation. Until the U.S. can make the switch to renewables, insists professor and author Charles Perrow, regulation is the best way to prevent disasters like the Gulf oil spill. Perrow is an organizational theorist, emeritus professor at Yale University, and author of Normal Accidents: Living with High Risk Technologies. He studies accidents. […]
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Gulf oil spill: angst edition
Photo: U.S. Coast GuardWell, BP has finally lowered the dome over its leaking pipes. It’ll probably be Sunday before crews know whether they can actually start pumping the spewing crude to the surface. While we wonder why the huge containment device wasn’t built, tested, and at the ready all along (doesn’t anybody make multiple backup […]
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Dmitry Orlov on why the U.S. is headed toward Soviet-style collapse
Dmitry Orlov“Really, there’s no one at the helm now,” Dmitry Orlov says nonchalantly. We are talking about the economic crisis and the way that the destructive system of our economy operates without anyone really leading it. It’s a perfect statement from a man who has traded in his house and car to live on a […]
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As Nashville floods recede, an opportunity emerges
Homes in Nashville.Photo courtesy Eric Hamiter via FlickrNASHVILLE, Tenn. — Four days after rainstorms pummeled my hometown, problems mount. Major portions of the city are still submerged beneath floodwaters. Thousands are displaced from their homes, the contents of their lives soaked, mud-caked, and molding. Thousands more have no electricity or plumbing. The city faces severe […]
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My review of Jeff Goodell’s new book How to Cool the Planet
What seems like a thousand years ago (I’ll never get used to print media pacing), I wrote a review of Jeff Goodell’s new book for the American Prospect. It appears in the latest issue and has now been published on their website. Here’s how it begins: —— How to Cool the Planet: Geoengineering and the […]
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“I’m in this to Win,” Graham says of Senate climate bill
Sen. Lindsey Graham doesn’t sound like someone who’s abandoned the push to pass a global warming bill…. “I’m not playing the game to win 43 [votes],” he said, referring to the high-water mark of past Senate climate bill roll calls. “I’m not in this to make a statement. I’m in this to win.” Lindsey Graham […]
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Publicize or perish: The scientific community is failing miserably in communicating the potential ca
Physics World asked me to write for a special issue on Energy, Sustainability and Climate Change. The article, “Publicize or perish,” is online and reposted below with links. The fate of the next 50 generations may well be determined in the next few months and years. Will the US Congress agree to a shrinking cap […]
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255 National Academy of Sciences members, including 11 Nobel laureates, defend climate science integ
“There is compelling, comprehensive, and consistent objective evidence that humans are changing the climate in ways that threaten our societies and the ecosystems on which we depend.” Tomorrow the journal Science publishes a remarkable Lead Letter supporting the accuracy of climate science. The must-read statement, “Climate Change and the Integrity of Science,” is signed […]
