Climate Politics

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  • Mistakes economists make, climate/energy edition

    Economist Tyler Cowen has a list of mistakes made by liberal and conservative economists. They are largely of the intellectual, “you’re doing economics wrong” sort. I’m more interested in Ezra Klein’s subsequent list of mistakes economists make in their interactions with journalists and the political class. These are the ones that really grind my gears […]

    David Roberts Energy

  • Japan is not a nuclear conflagration right now. Would we be so lucky?

    Japan has declared a state of emergency at the Fukushima nuclear reactor -- but thanks to good engineering, there's been no radiation leak and there's no risk of one. With more than 50 nuclear plants in the earthquake-vulnerable country, things would have been way worse without earthquake precautions in place. Does U.S. infrastructure have that kind of protection?

    Jess Zimmerman Energy

  • ‘Mad Men’ star Vincent Kartheiser wants to sell the country on high-speed rail [VIDEO]

    Mad Men‘s Vincent Kartheiser is really, really excited about high-speed rail. “I’m just amped up about it, you can tell,” he told me yesterday. “I’m going a million miles an hour. I’m going as fast as high-speed rail.” Kartheiser was on the phone with me to talk about the new video he and fellow Mad […]

    Sarah Goodyear Cities

  • Oil prices soar in spite of sharp increase in U.S. production under Obama

    U.S. oil production last year rose to its highest level in almost a decade … As a result, analysts believe the U.S. was the largest contributor to the increase in global oil supplies last year over 2009, and is on track to increase domestic production by 25 percent by the second half of the decade. […]

    Joseph Romm Energy

  • More drilling won’t help

    We have a problem we can’t drill our way out of.Photo: arbyreedCross-posted from the Center for American Progress. Unrest in Libya and Egypt is driving up oil prices, stirring concerns that gasoline could hit $5 a gallon by summer. Like a smoker’s persistent cough, it’s another warning to change our ways. America sends nearly $1 billion […]

    Daniel J. Weiss Energy

  • Homeland Security Chairman Peter King ignores poison gas disaster threat to New York City

    Congressman Peter King (R-NY), the Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, faced protests from hundreds of New Yorkers and interfaith leaders this weekend over his plans to single out Muslim communities in upcoming Congressional hearings. While Rep. King seeks to look tough on terrorism by scapegoating people for their religious beliefs, last week he showed […]

    Philip Radford Politics

  • House GOP may actually be trying to poison us

    Photo: Lance RobotsonAll right, now we’re starting to get suspicious. The GOP isn’t just trying to decimate the EPA’s ability to protect our air and water from toxins — they’re also defunding poison control centers. What the … is this a Dorothy Sayers novel? Are the Republican reps fabricating a will and then bumping us […]

    Jess Zimmerman Politics

  • Dems kick up a fuss over GOP’s styrofoam obsession

    Action shot of the GOP’s plan for America, shot by a congressional staffer and originally published by Treehugger.House Republicans are congratulating themselves for defeating biodegradable cups in congressional cafeterias, surely the greatest challenge facing our country. But for once, Democrats are fighting back, if by “fighting back” you mean “saying words.” Former Speaker of the […]

    Jess Zimmerman Politics

  • Every problem on Earth in one graph [COMIC]

    Zach Weiner of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal sums up why Tim DeChristopher is going to jail while the Kochs and other business magnates are still free to hump the environment like the sad little doggies they are, and also conveniently every other problem you might have been wondering about.

    Jess Zimmerman Politics

  • Wall Street Journal poll: Most popular spending cut is subsidies for new nuclear plants

    It is no big surprise that Americans don’t want cuts in Social Security, Medicare, or K-12 education. But the new WSJ/NBC poll does have some surprises: The survey found that the most popular potential spending cuts were subsidies to build new nuclear plants, with 57 percent support…. Of course, nuclear is absurdly over-subsidized (see “Nuclear […]

    Joseph Romm Energy