Climate Climate & Energy
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That status of global warming negotiations in Germany
I’ve been participating since last Monday in the global warming negotiations in Bonn, Germany. This is the second session of the year. There are 53 days of official negotiations before Copenhagen and Monday was day 17 (the first 10 days were held in the first session in Bonn in March — as I discussed here […]
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Jane Lubchenco: “Ocean acidity has increased by 30%” thanks to human emissions
Global warming is a major threat to life in the oceans – and humans who depend on that life (see Ocean dead zones to expand, “remain for thousands of years”). As one recent study found: Global warming may create “dead zones” in the ocean that would be devoid of fish and seafood and endure for […]
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A warming world means more destructive storms
Elevated global temperatures bring a number of threats, including rising seas and more crop-withering heat waves. Higher surface water temperatures in the tropical oceans also provide more energy to drive tropical storm systems, leading to more-destructive hurricanes and typhoons. The combination of rising seas, more powerful storms, and stronger storm surges can be devastating. As […]
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No, Washington Times: New Brookings study finds strong climate action would NOT hurt the economy
Less than a postage stamp a day. That’s what it will cost the average American to cut US greenhouse gases 83% in four decades and give the world a chance of avoiding catastrophic global warming while jumpstarting the transition to a clean energy economy. The right wing likes to take economic analyses that don’t model […]
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Environmental groups urge Pelosi to toughen bill
Twenty major environmental groups sent House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a letter (here) urging that she make three key improvements in the Waxman-Markey bill and reject attempts to weaken it. The groups, which include the Sierra Club, the National Wildlife Federation, the National Audubon Society, Environment America, the League of Conservation Voters, the Natural Resource Defense […]
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WSJ front-page shocker: U.S. Foresees a Thinner Cushion of Coal"
Okay, it isn’t a shock to long-time readers that the US Geological Survey sharply scaled back projections of economically-recoverable US coal (see “Are we approaching peak coal? Part 1” and “Part 2“). As I reported in January, the USGS concluded: The coal reserves estimate for the Gillette coalfield is 10.1 billion short tons of coal […]
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Washington Post launches attack on clean energy and climate bill for promoting building efficiency
Memo to Washington Post: Please, please trade editor Fred Hiatt to the Wall Street Journal editorial page where his penchant for allowing unfact-checked crap into the paper – and for writing it himself – would no longer hurt the reputation of a (once) great newspaper. There are lots of reasons for progressives and the progressive […]
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At Bonn climate talks, it’s a dialogue of the deaf
Climate protesters march in Bonn on June 6.Courtesy Oxfam Germany via Flickr BONN, Germany — Beethoven’s birthplace stands just a few stops down one of Bonn’s speedy tramlines from the conference center hosting the latest session of the international climate negotiations. A modest yellow-painted house with dark green wooden shutters, it is now a museum […]
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Everything you wanted to know about Waxman-Markey allocations
UPDATE: At the end, I’m going to respond to what has now become a widespread myth that because Waxman-Markey supposedly mutes the electric price signal to consumers, it hurts the cause of energy efficiency. The Subcommittee on Energy and Environment will hold a hearing titled, “Allowance Allocation Policies in Climate Legislation: Assisting Consumers, Investing in […]
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Anti-science conservatives are stuck in denial; for climate science activists, the reverse is true
The five stages of grief describes “a process by which people allegedly deal with grief and tragedy, especially when diagnosed with a terminal illness or catastrophic loss,” as Wikipedia puts it: 1. Denial 2. Anger 3. Bargaining 4. Depression 5. Acceptance l have been meaning to blog on this since I heard a very brilliant […]
