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  • Youth advocate for equitable international response to climate change in Poznan

    Friday morning, youth from the global north and the global south gathered to create a stunning visual for the incoming delegates, party leaders, and journalists: a display that said very clearly, “Equity Now: Our Future Lies in the Balance.” That is the heart of the youth’s vision. We’re not all there yet; we have a […]

  • American Progress’ ‘Green Recovery’ plan

    We are going to have a huge economic stimulus package soon after Obama becomes President. And a big piece of it is going to be aimed at energy efficiency and renewable energy, as the NYT reported today in “Proposal Ties Economic Stimulus to Energy Plan.” I have asked a bunch of my wonk EE friends […]

  • CARB does not recognize the meaning of ‘maximum emission reductions’

    The California Air Resources Board is finalizing its Scoping Plan for implementation of the state’s global warming law, AB 32, which could establish a precedent for federal legislation by the 111th Congress. Barbara Boxer recently announced plans for a cap-and-trade initiative to be introduced in January, and she earlier indicated that the next go-round on […]

  • Green stimulus, green jobs

    Music to my ears: The details and cost of the so-called green-jobs program are still unclear, but a senior Obama aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a work in progress, said it would probably include the weatherizing of hundreds of thousands of homes, the installation of “smart meters” to monitor and reduce […]

  • Clean coal salesman Joe Lucas shucks and jives for NPR

    This NPR story on clean coal is astounding. Pardon the long post, but I had to transcribe several parts of it so you wouldn’t think I’m making it up. The story begins with Al Gore making (and repeating several times) a single point: clean coal — insofar as that means coal power generation that has […]

  • Emergency stimulus requires an emergency board

    Cross-posted from the NDN blog. —– Clean infrastructure stimulus is coming and it is coming fast, perhaps as soon as Jan. 20, given the new accelerated timetable of President-elect Obama and the Congressional leadership. For us at NDN, this is an exciting moment, as we have been advocating on behalf of a large green stimulus […]

  • Biogas out of … can’t say

    Here’s an example from the New York Times of turning doo-doo into gold: At the electricity-from-manure project here in Sterksel [Netherlands], the refuse from thousands of pigs is combined with local waste materials (outdated carrot juice and crumbs from a cookie factory), and pumped into warmed tanks called digesters. There, resident bacteria release the natural […]

  • Youth delegates in Poznan stage mock ‘Jeopardy’ game to get message out

    Photo courtesy David Wargert and Energy Action Coalition   It’s day four of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations in Poznan, but it feels like I’ve been here for months. I’m up before the sun rises and in bed after midnight; the action is nonstop in between. I am one of […]

  • The AP’s climate conference footprint fetish

    “The AP writer couldn’t see the forest for the trees.” — Terry Tamminen “The fact is, we live in a glass house today, folks, and sometimes we become part of the story whether we want to be or not.” — Lex Alexander What a difference vision makes. Last week, CJR Observatory’s Cristine Russell wrote about […]

  • Poznan: Least-developed countries present CO2 targets of 350 ppm

    The big international climate conferences, at least the ones I’ve been to in Kyoto, the Hague, and elsewhere, are pretty much the same: caffeinated, adrenalized, endless, chaotic, and incredibly hard to read. Much goes on behind closed doors, and small signals from the big players at the last minute generally make the most difference. I’m […]