Climate Politics
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Hey, Obama: You can't bargain with the climate
There's one place where Barack Obama's reasonable compromises simply won't work. That place is the climate.
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Follow-up on Seattle's proposed deep-bore tunnel
A roundup of basic info on the impending decision to build a huge, car-centric mega-tunnel under downtown Seattle.
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New report on state transportation policy shows a long road ahead
The best hope for reforms that would lead to a reduction in carbon emissions from transportation might lie with the states. Emphasis on might.
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Climate defeats come from D.C., not Copenhagen and Cancun
The climate war isn't over, but those who are fighting to cut emissions haven't won lately. The latest defeat, however, did not occur at in Cancun. Rather, it took place in Washington, D.C.
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If efficiency hasn't cut energy use, then what?
One of the most penetrating critiques of energy-efficiency dogma you'll ever read is in this week's New Yorker. "The efficiency dilemma," by David Owen, has this provocative subtitle: "If our machines use less energy, will we just use them more?" Owen's answer is a resounding, iconoclastic, and probably correct Yes.
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Memo: Fox News reporters ordered to promote Climategate conspiracy theory
In a memo obtained by Media Matters, Fox News Vice President Bill Sammon ordered his reporters to question global warming, citing conspiracy theories about scientists based on Climategate.
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Seattle's impending car-centric mega-tunnel: a chat with urbanist Cary Moon
Despite their ostentatious talk on climate, many Pacific Northwest political leaders don't seem to be making the transportation connection. Nowhere is that more evident than in the fight over how to replace Seattle's crumbling Alaskan Way Viaduct, a two-mile-long elevated stretch of State Route 99 running along the city's waterfront. The alternative with the most momentum is a gigantic bored tunnel -- a concrete-heavy, emissions-intensive, multi-billion-dollar piece of old-school highway infrastructure devoted almost entirely to cars, shuttling suburban drivers past the urban core. Sustainable urbanism advocate Cary Moon explains WTF.
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New York’s fracking ban is a mixed bag
New York Gov. David Paterson this weekend banned high-volume fracking in his state til July. Green groups are pleased but worried about a loophole.
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What happened (and why): an assessment of the Cancun Agreements
Despite the gloom-and-doom predictions that dominated the weeks and months leading up to Cancun, the talks must be judged a success. The Cancun Agreements represent a set of modest steps forward.
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Corn lobby cashes in on tax compromise
It wasn't just plutocrats who made out like bandits in President Obama's grand tax compromise. King Corn got his paws into the public till, too, snatching a cool $5 billion. So why does fiscal rectitude mean that school lunches only get a tiny boost -- offset by a cut in food stamps?
