Climate Climate & Energy
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Cloud Cult story the Weather Channel doesn’t want to share
ForecastEarth, the eco-focused show on the Weather Channel, did a great piece on the band Cloud Cult last week. (Follow Grist’s Cloud Cult obsession here.) However, they have chosen not to make the video embeddable on other sites, despite using a service that offers that option. That drives me nuts. So in a useless and […]
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Squabbling threatens E.U.’s climate goals
The European Union’s climate goals emerged intact but shaky from a squabble-y summit held this week. The bloc is still aiming for a December deadline to finalize a specific action plan to reduce emissions 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020. But under pressure from seven Eastern European nations and Italy, which fear the cost […]
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Arctic region sees record-high autumn air temps, other changes
Autumn air temperatures in the Arctic have hit record levels — some 9 degrees Fahrenheit above normal — according to a new assessment by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Researchers took a close look at the Arctic’s atmosphere, biology, land, ocean, and sea ice and concluded that “There continues to be widespread and, in […]
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Take a fun quiz on energy
Friends at West Virginia University have just compiled a 20 question energy quiz that provides some rather interesting “a ha” moments. (There is no coherence to the abbreviated list of questions below other than the fact that I find the answers interesting and/or counterintuitive.) See how you do: If all of the CO2 produced in […]
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Nobelist Paul Crutzen suggests that a slowdown in the economy could be good for the climate
A: Of course not. Only efforts to sharply cut CO2 emissions starting immediately would be good for the climate. If proof were ever needed that winning a Nobel Prize does not make you a genius on every subject, consider what atmospheric scientist Paul Crutzen told Reuters: It’s a cruel thing to say … but if […]
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Lester Brown talks about renewable energy expansion
On a conference call Wednesday, I asked Lester R. Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, whether the recent financial meltdown would effect the burgeoning solar, wind, and geothermal industries. He responded that while investment of all kinds will be more difficult, a renewable energy jobs program could provide the same kind of stimulus that […]
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Safety is for extremists
“Senator Obama will tell you, as the extreme environmentalists do, [nuclear power] has to be safe.” — Sen. John McCain, at the 15 Oct. 2008 presidential debate
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How the new European carbon standard could backfire
Last week’s action by the European Parliament to adopt the “Schwarzenegger clause” as a requirement for new coal plants built after 2015 shows the danger of locking in well-intentioned half-measures. The Schwarzenegger clause is a California regulatory requirement that emerged out of SB 1368, enacted in 2006 and rightly hailed at that time as a […]
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EDF’s and MIT’s magical thinking on carbon caps and oil
Last week I critiqued EDF’s pointless video/graphics competition (see here). The contest is pointless because a carbon cap can’t cure our oil addiction. Indeed, under any plausible cap, U.S. oil consumption rises. Gernot Wagner, an economist at Environmental Defense Fund, responded with a post here: “‘Bizarre’? No. Tough? Yes: Joseph Romm’s critique of EDF’s contest […]
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Bad data analysis by University of Alabama scientists set old myth in motion
Denier talking points are harder to kill than vampires. They keep rising from the dead no matter how many times scientists try to drive a stake through their heart. Sometimes they take on a slightly different form, like a relentless, indestructible liquid-metal android assassin from the future that constantly switches appearance in an effort to […]
