Climate Politics

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  • Can Obama go back to political base(ics)?

    An Obama 2012 rally in Chicago in April.Photo: Barack ObamaCross-posted from the Great Energy Challenge blog. President Obama made a smart move this month by putting the Keystone XL pipeline project into the deep freeze. It had been poor politics for him — and it would have been even worse policy for the country, especially when you consider […]

    Mike Casey Politics

  • Study: Climate skepticism leads directly to climate inaction

    If you were wondering why industry heavies and their media housepets traffic in climate change skepticism, here’s why: It works. A study just published in the journal Nature Climate Change confirms that if you sow skepticism, you reap inaction. When Americans believe that there is widespread disagreement among climate scientists that climate change is real, […]

    Christopher Mims Politics

  • What can we expect from the Durban climate talks?

    Cross-posted from Climate Progress. Next week, Climate Progress will be heading to the COP 17 climate conference in Durban, South Africa, to report on any developments coming out of the meeting. Hopes are not high for any major progress. But Andrew Light, coordinator of international climate policy at the Center for American Progress (CAP), warns against […]

    Stephen Lacey Politics

  • Why brown spin keeps beating green spin

    Spin it, baby, spin it.Photo: Sinan CeylanOne of the perennial complaints of the green community is that the Beltway — the ecosystem of politicians, staffers, lobbyists, NGOs, and media that influence federal policy in D.C. — is dominated by what I guess you’d call the brown community: fossil-fuel lobbyists, conservative think tanks, and politicians who, […]

    David Roberts Politics

  • Smacked down: How police action is feeding the Occupy movement

    Photo: Jessica LehrmanOn Oct. 11, 2011, I asked the mayor of Baltimore to sleep with me. I challenged her to spend one night outside in front of City Hall in solidarity with Baltimore’s 4,000 homeless residents. It was a long shot, I knew. My good intentions notwithstanding, she would likely decline. But even I was […]

    Lionel Foster Cities

  • Rep. Don Young throws a weird tantrum over arctic drilling

    Usually, we at Grist List try to make the news amusing for your entertainment. But sometimes Congress does the work for us. The scene: A committee hearing on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The characters: Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), drilling advocate, professional crank Douglas Brinkley, respected historian Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), committee chairman, […]

    Sarah Laskow Politics

  • Unboxing Occupy Wall Street: We still don’t know what it is, and that’s good

    Photo: Martin ReisWhen I first heard about Occupy Wall Street (henceforth OWS), I was dismissive. Worse, I was dismissive in a smug, insider, hippie-punching sort of way. I immediately put it into a box: confused and easily dismissed lefty protests filled with Free Mumia signs, giant puppets, and drum circles. As it turned out, I […]

    David Roberts Politics

  • No National Climate Service for you, says Congress

    Can Congress say no to an innocuous, zero-cost request for a government agency to reorganize itself so that it contains a National Climate Service? The answer — in our anti-science, post-truth, batshit crazy America — is yes. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wanted to create what it calls a "one stop shop" for climate […]

    Christopher Mims Politics

  • Occupy Wall Street can shake up a city — but can it create lasting change?

    Photo: Lauren DeCicca via weeklydig“Mike check! “MIKE CHECK!” “Mike check!” “MIKE CHECK!” This call-and-response has become a familiar refrain for those who have attended Occupy Wall Street protests or followed the movement from afar. When police banned sound systems in many encampments, protesters responded by creating human amplifiers: Anyone who has something to say to […]

    Greg Hanscom Cities

  • Lobbyists scoff at the idea of children’s health

    The New York Times has a big article about the fight for ozone regulation, which apparently was pretty much EPA chief Lisa P. Jackson versus the world. It's an interesting meditation on the power of buzzwords — namedropping "the economy" and "jobs" helped neutralize support for the regulations, even though analyses showed that they wouldn't […]

    Jess Zimmerman Politics