Climate Politics

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  • Why electricity markets will never be (totally) free

    Over the past few years, the U.S. electricity grid has begun a massive, underappreciated, and largely unintentional transition away from coal to natural gas. Because nobody decided on a shift to gas, or directed such a shift, many people have mistaken the transition for the outcome of a “free market.” It’s an easy mistake to […]

    Sean Casten Energy

  • Pipeline power game: Why the GOP wants to humiliate Obama

    There was only one last-ditch demand Republicans in Congress rallied around in the end-of-year budget negotiations that concluded today — a black line in the tar sands drawn by the conservative legislative machine. In order to approve a payroll tax-cut extension — a measure that the GOP’s tax-hating ranks already support in theory and that’s […]

    Scott Rosenberg Climate & Energy

  • Congress passes the wrong pipeline bill

    It turns out Republicans and Democrats truly can work together to craft a bipartisan pipeline safety bill that satisfies both parties! And then they can accidentally pass the old version instead. The bill, which laid out new penalties for pipeline safety violations following a deadly explosion last year, was laboriously hashed out in a bipartisan […]

    Jess Zimmerman Politics

  • Whippersnappers unite: Young farmers work to change 2012 Farm Bill

    A group of young farmers visiting Sen. Olympia Snowe’s office in Maine.Across the U.S., young people are heeding the call for a more just, sustainable, and healthy food system, and are heading to the fields to build it themselves. They are working on farms and starting their own small-scale farm businesses from scratch. But, as […]

    Lindsey Lusher Shute Agriculture

  • Here’s what Republicans are trying to shove into must-pass bills

    Politicians are always trying to sneak shit into important bills, so that when you vote to pass the Don't Starve America's Children Act you are also sneakily funding the Rich People Get To Use You As A Coffee Table rider. Because congressional Republicans evidently hate you and the world, they're shoving a bunch of anti-environmental […]

    Jess Zimmerman Climate & Energy

  • Crazy Taiwanese animation explains Canada’s Kyoto withdrawal

    Canada's craven withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol just got the Taiwanese animation it deserves. For those of you who aren't up on your international climate treaties, it's hard to put it more succinctly than New Media Animation itself has: Canada is withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, Environment Minister Peter Kent said Monday, […]

    Christopher Mims Politics

  • Tokelau, population 1,500, goes renewables-only

    At the U.N. climate talks in Durban, the South Pacific micro-state of Tokelau announced that it would be switching entirely to renewable energy. Tokelau has 1,500 people and three cars, but, uh, it's the thought that counts? Tokelau, which has 1,000 fewer people than my high school, currently runs diesel generators that eat up imported […]

    Jess Zimmerman Energy

  • Hacking the Farm Bill

    A slide from the winning entry. Rebecca Klein wasn’t expecting a lot when she signed up to attend last week’s Farm Bill Hackathon. This public health expert from the Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins University had never heard of a hackathon — a gathering of computer programmers who lock themselves in a […]

    Twilight Greenaway Agriculture

  • Funniest thing in months: Conan O’Brien’s parody of Ron Paul’s campaign video

    [vodpod id=ExternalVideo.1011875&w=425&h=350&fv=] Ron Paul made a campaign video that borders on self-parody, and if you haven’t seen it, do yourself the favor of watching it immediately. Keep in mind when you do that the budget cuts Paul is touting will come in part from eliminating the EPA (in addition to basically every other damn thing). […]

    Christopher Mims Politics

  • Crop insurance: This year’s Farm Bill frontier

    2011 was a record year for liability, with drought in Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma, and Hurricane Irene taking out crops along the Eastern seaboard. Photo: Bob Gutowski One of the great battles of the 2012 Farm Bill might concern … (drumroll) … crop insurance! Don’t roll your eyes: At $8 billion, it’s the largest part […]

    Heather Smith Agriculture