Climate Politics

Global warming is one of his top priorities

You probably heard that John Edwards has officially declared his candidacy for president. Here are his top five priorities:

• Provide moral leadership in the world
• Strengthen our middle class and end poverty
• Guarantee universal health care for every American
• Lead the fight against global warming
• Get America and other countries off our addiction to oil

Edwards, who's been working primarily on poverty since the 2004 election, announced in the 9th Ward of New Orleans. Here's the video:

Everybody does it

Thanks to Andrew for bringing up science politicization, something I've been meaning to talk about for a while. This was originally a comment on his post, but it got too long so I'm putting it up here.

It seems to me that discussions of science politicization run together two distinct issues.

Washington guv defangs oversight panel

Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire may have announced a major program to clean up the Puget Sound just last week, but this week the tides have, er, turned.

This week, she's planning to limit the power of an independent citizen oversight panel intending to keep an eye on the oil industry -- probably the biggest threat to Sound health.

Discuss

People talk about the "politicization" of science all the time, usually in the form of an accusation designed to paint an opponent as biased or corrupt. Let's take a moment to think about the term and what it means.

Science is a multi-layered, collective, and impersonal process consisting of three parts:

1. individual scientists working under the scientific method,
2. the results of the individual scientists undergo peer-review and are published for the community to evaluate, and
3. important claims are then re-tested in the "crucible of science" -- they are either reproduced by independent scientific groups or have their implications tested to insure consistency with the existing body of scientific knowledge.

John Dingell talks to Grist about climate change, fuel economy, and the 110th Congress

Meet the man who may determine the fate of climate policy in the next two years: Rep. John Dingell. The formidable Democrat from Michigan, now 80, has served 51 years in the House of Representatives — the second-longest of any congressional career in history. During that time, he played a key role in pushing through […]

Congress gives parting nod to offshore drillers, but also to renewable-energy industries

Dark clouds on the horizon — and drilling rigs too. Photo: iStockphoto The GOP-controlled 109th Congress went out with a bang — that of drills hitting sea bottom. In the waning hours of the final legislative session earlier this month, Republican leaders pushed through a provision to open up 8.3 million acres on the outer […]

Inuit All Along

Inuit climate petition against U.S. is rejected Is climate change a human-rights issue? The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights decided to dodge the question. Arctic Inuit submitted a petition to the commission a year ago, accusing the U.S. government of violating Native peoples’ rights to their traditional ways of life by declining to regulate greenhouse-gas […]

What we’ve learned from the biofuels series

Future or folly? Photo: iStockphoto After spending much of the last several months thinking about the biofuels boom and its implications in preparation for this special series, we’ve come to a few conclusions. Like other energy sources, biofuels have significant environmental liabilities. Boosters’ rhetoric about “renewable energy” aside, topsoil — from which biofuel feedstocks spring […]

I Am Livid, Hear Me Roar

Tired of incessant political intimidation, U.S. scientists speak out Just our luck: the one time we went to the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union, the most exciting thing that happened was that geologist photocopying his rocks. But this year, headlines abound. Earlier this week at the event, the Union of Concerned Scientists issued […]

They say they care, but they never call in the morning

There's lots of buzz in the progressosphere about a new poll in Iowa -- site of a pivotal Dem primary -- showing John Edwards in the lead.

Another poll of Iowa Dems commissioned by Environmental Defense also found some interesting stuff:

• A 72% of majority of Democratic caucus-goers say they consider global warming to be extremely (32%) or very (39%) serious -- while another 15% say it is fairly serious. Only 11% dismiss it as just somewhat (9%) or not at all serious (2%).
• Among a separate poll of Democratic county chairs and vice chairs, 77% think global warming is extremely (37%) or very (40%) serious -- plus 14% who say it is fairly serious.

Perhaps even more interesting, voters don't know which candidates are best on the issue: