Climate Politics

Scientists are about to test a scheme to cool the Earth

If the world is getting hotter because it's absorbing too much sunlight, why not put up a sunshade? That's the question Montgomery Burns has often asked, and one that scientists in the UK will begin to answer this October when they will use a weather balloon to loft a hose a little more than half a mile into the sky. They'll then pump water up the hose into the atmosphere. If that sounds simplistic to you, maybe you just don’t understand science.

Republicans risk $1 billion in revenue to squash a trickle of funding for biking and walking

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) is threatening to hold up the passage of the transportation bill over a tiny portion of its funding, which (of course!) happens to be the portion dedicated to forms of transportation other than cars and highways. Streetsblog explains what's at stake here:

Sen. Coburn, and possibly other members of Congress, are declaring their willingness to throw the entire transportation industry, as well as commuters, under the bus while they quibble about the pennies spent on bike paths. According to the White House, if the bill is delayed just 10 days, the country would lose over $1 billion in transportation funding — “money we can never get back.”

Two good (and overlooked) ideas in Obama's jobs plan

David Roberts highlights two great ideas from Obama's jobs plan: greening schools and expanding job-sharing.

Cartoon version of Rick Perry indistinguishable from the real thing

I wish this Taiwanese animated explainer on Rick Perry said more about his laughable positions on climate science, but you gotta love watching a cartoon version of the Republican front-runner pray for rain and get smacked down by God.

The gas tax is actually super low, thanks to inflation

Eric Cantor thinks that bike sharing is siphoning off way too much of the country's gas tax revenue. And for a Republican like him, raising the tax is out of the question, never mind that, as Greater Greater Washington's Matt Johnson points out, in inflation-adjusted dollars, the gas tax has gone down by 34 percent since 1994, the last time it was raised. And, again in inflation-adjusted dollars, the gas tax was actually highest in 1960. 

Chris Christie met with Koch brother before pulling out of climate pact

Tape of a secret meeting between Christie and one of the Koch brothers sheds light on Christie's decision to pull out of a regional climate initiative.

Representative thinks Obama controls the weather

Yeah, that's Rep. Joe Wilson, of the "You lie!" outburst. Is it possible the reason they don't believe in science is that they actually believe in magic?

Rick Perry: Just because global warming is a 'fact' doesn't mean it's real

Oh, Rick Perry. He's like a feudal lord who was just defrosted from the 13th century, only better-coiffed and less handy with a lance. He's like his own personal Renaissance Festival. Science? Forsooth, milord, what dost thou mean?

In last night's debate, Perry offered the following extremely convincing (to other 13th-century refugees) argument against global warming:

1. Not all scientists believe in it, I am pretty sure.
2. I can't name any scientist who doesn't, but then, I can't name any scientists at all.
3. Even if they do say it's a fact, that doesn't mean it's true.
4. Because Galileo.
5. Hey, Galileo! He's a scientist who probably didn't believe in global warming!
6. QED.

Mitt stakes: Romney botches 9 energy facts

Mitt Romney released his much-hyped jobs plan Tuesday. In the energy section alone, there are 9 inconsistencies and factually incorrect statements.

Here’s what happens to EPA whistleblowers (hint: it isn’t pretty)

Marsha Coleman-Adebayo's new book, No Fear: The Whistleblower's Triumph Over Corruption and Retaliation at the EPA, tells about the ordeal she went through while working at the EPA in the 1990s. She told NPR:

For me, working at the EPA was a very harrowing experience. … I was surprised that the in environment of the EPA, instead of being rewarded for being proficient in what you do, loyalty was a much greater value. When I began questioning U.S. policy, I was considered disloyal. And at that point, at the minds of many people at the EPA, I had become their enemy.

Coleman-Adebayo says she faced racial and gender-based discrimination during her time at the office. But her real problems started when she questioned her supervisors' reaction to a problem she found out about while working with the 1996 Gore-Mbeki commission in South Africa.