Climate Politics

Addicted to Hot Air

Bush hits the road to tout alternative energy technologies With the American people restless over high home-heating and gasoline prices, President Bush has embarked on a PR tour of electorally important states to promote alternative energy technologies. Yesterday, he touted his plan to increase funding for energy research during visits to solar-panel manufacturer United Solar […]

An interview with Sir David King, Britain’s top scientist and climate crusader

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has earned a rep as a global leader in the fight against climate change, and, at least in part, he has Sir David King to thank for it. Sir David King. King, the U.K. government’s chief scientific adviser and an outspoken advocate of aggressive action to forestall global warming, has […]

What the Bleep Do They Know!?

NOAA scientists join NASA’s with accounts of global-warming censorship Government censorship: It’s what’s for dinner. Some climate scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration whose views on global warming contradict Bush administration policy say they’re being prevented from giving particular interviews or being closely monitored by press handlers. A recent NOAA press release claiming […]

Fiber Tactics

Asbestos trust fund derailed in the Senate Remember the titanic struggle erupting in the Senate all of eight days ago, as a landmark bill to create a $140 billion industry-financed trust fund for victims of asbestos-related illnesses moved to the floor for debate? Well, pack up your lawn chair: It’s over. Yesterday, the bill effectively […]

Facts and figures on poverty in the United States

$35,000 — basic-needs budget for a U.S. family of four (two adults, two children), as calculated in An Atlas of Poverty in America 1 $19,157 — poverty line for a family of four (two adults, two children) in the U.S. in 2004, as established by the U.S. Census Bureau 2 $19,000 — amount spent by […]

Introducing a seven-week series on the intersection of economic and ecological survival

Consider this central paradox of U.S. environmentalism: In much of popular and political culture, the movement is dismissed as the pet cause of white, well-off Americans — people who can afford to buy organic arugula, vacation in Lake Tahoe, and worry about the fate of the Pacific pocket mouse. And yet, the population most affected […]

Less Money, Mo’ Problems

Bush’s 2007 budget slashes funding for energy conservation When President Bush said “America is addicted to oil,” we thought he meant that was a bad thing. Apparently not: Bush’s proposed 2007 budget increases funding for oil and gas drilling on public lands and slashes $100 million from some of the Energy Department’s most effective conservation […]

Obama and Inslee propose to save the American auto industry by paying it to do the smart thing

Don't miss "Salvaging the Auto Industry," a Boston Globe op-ed from Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), two of the Dems' brightest lights on energy issues. (Inslee wrote a piece in Grist on his New Apollo Energy Act.)

Obama and Inslee propose a piece of legislation called the "Health Care for Hybrids" Act. The idea is that the feds would help American auto companies pay some of their enormous healthcare costs; in return, the companies would commit to using the money to develop fuel-efficient vehicles.

I'm a little dubious about the bill on the merits.

Bodies, Asbestos, and Motion

Controversial bill to create asbestos trust fund moves ahead in Senate An epic drama is playing out in the U.S. Capitol over … asbestos. Seriously. A bill — which, after a 98 to 1 vote in the Senate yesterday, will now move to the floor for debate — would create a $140 billion industry-financed trust […]

Money for Nothin’

Bush’s 2007 budget includes Arctic Refuge drilling, cuts EPA funding Unsurprisingly, greens will find little to love in President Bush’s proposed $2.77 trillion budget for fiscal year 2007. It calls for oil development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, estimating $7 billion in revenue by 2008 from leasing drilling rights — nearly triple the $2.4 […]