Climate Climate & Energy

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The Energy Star Alliance is running a public service announcement profiling a fictional family powering their house with static electricity.

It's a pretty funny commercial; I wish I knew the ad firm that did it.

Eh, why bother

Of course not. That would release CO2, and we'd have to buy an offset or plant a tree or something.

I jest, of course. The reason this comes up is a flaming debate going on right now.

Over on the weather channel blog, Heidi Cullen asks:

If a meteorologist can't speak to the fundamental science of climate change, then maybe the AMS shouldn't give them a Seal of Approval.

(FYI: AMS is the American Meteorological Society.)

Marc Morano, the high-strung Inhofe staffer, responded on the EPW blog:

Gloom and Doom With a Sense of Doomed-er

Doomsday Clock ticks to 11:55 p.m., thanks in part to climate change Cue ominous music: We’re edging closer to annihilation, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ famed Doomsday Clock — a symbolic measurement of how close civilization stands to ultra-mega-doom, or “midnight.” Yesterday, the group pushed its famed ticker two minutes forward to 11:55 […]

There are some good ones

DR: Let’s talk legal issues. I can see the analogy between cigarettes causing lung cancer and burning oil causing asthma. You have a reasonably distinct causal chain. You can reasonably point to knowledge on the part of the oil companies. But when it comes to global warming, you have a long and tenuous causal chain, […]

Catch up post: replying to some comments

As promised, this is a catch-up post, wherein I belatedly reply to various comments.

Hey, It’s the Thought That Counts

New energy pact signed by 16 Asian and Pacific nations lacks targets Yesterday, the leaders of 16 Asian and Pacific nations bumped into each other on the street, chatted for a few minutes, then promised to “totally get together for lunch some time.” At least, that’s one interpretation of the signing of a landmark energy […]

Overreacts to global warming

Greenland has joined the ranks of the alarmists by hysterically overreacting to global warming. Look, Greenland’s an advocate. I respect that. We just can’t expect it to to accurately reflect the science. Frankly, it lacks credibility.

Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity answers questions

Kassie Siegel. What’s your job title? I work for the Center for Biological Diversity as director of the Climate, Air, and Energy Program. What does your organization do? The Center for Biological Diversity works to protect imperiled plants and animals, the wild places they depend on, and, by extension, our own well-being. We are probably […]

It’s all about oil, baby

DR: You say pretty openly that Iraq and a good chunk of our defense spending — about half total federal expenditures now — is about oil. Not very long ago that was written off as a hysterical lefty conspiracy theory. TT: Certainly with respect to Iraq, as the excuses get peeled away one by one, […]

Let’s wonk it out

DR: On our site there are many people highly skeptical about biofuels. For lots of reasons: corn ethanol barely breaks even on energy balance. It’s an environmental nightmare, with nitrogen fertilizers in the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. It is a commodity sector governed by a few massive multinational corporations, which are lavished […]