Climate Politics
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Ads aim to humanize climate scientists, but are they doing enough to make themselves more lovable?
Do the new ads from the Union of Concerned Scientists make climate scientists more huggable? Climate scientists smeared in the “Climategate” spectacle have been cleared of wrongdoing in one investigation after another — but they’ve still got a lingering image problem. The play’s the thing: With a new ad campaign, the Union of Concerned Scientists […]
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Washington Post asks why Gulf spill isn’t leading to green progress
The Washington Post brings the serious gloom and doom today with a front-page story: “Historic oil spill fails to produce gains for U.S. environmentalists.” It’s making the rounds among green groups and climate activists. Lead environmental reporter Juliet Eilperin and David A. Fahrenthold write: This year, the worst oil spill in U.S. history — and, […]
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Feds fund new rapid buses, leave out hovertrains
We’re starting to see some tangible progress from President Obama’s Smart Growth/Livability initiative — a joint venture of the Department of Transportation, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency — which announced $293 million in grants for urban transit yesterday. Much of the total goes to bus rapid transit systems, which […]
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Obama admin announces Alaska drilling. What could go wrong?
“One of the most frustrating things about the Obama administration is the tendency of its leaders and communicators to project a message that’s absolutely demoralizing to progressive political activists,” writes left-of-center blogger Matt Yglesias. Demoralizing? I don’t know what he’s talking about: The Interior Department today announced plans to open 1.8 million acres of Alaska’s […]
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The climate war’s western front
Gov. Schwarzenegger at a press conference. Photo: Office of the GovernorThe latest California ballot measure to make a national splash addresses neither marijuana nor gay marriage, but an even more contentious issue these days: cap-and-trade. Proposition 23 would suspend California’s statewide cap-and-trade plan, currently scheduled to take full effect in 2012, until unemployment drops to […]
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Me, on the Rachel Maddow Show
I was on the Rachel Maddow Show last night. While Maddow herself is reporting from Afghanistan and Iraq, the show is being guest hosted by Chris Hayes, political editor at The Nation. Here’s the bit: [vodpod id=ExternalVideo.1012193&w=425&h=350&fv=launch%3D38159001%26width%3D400%26height%3D320] As to the substance, I’d add one thing. Chris frames the bill in the Senate as one designed […]
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Science vindicated as Senate edges closer to climate and energy debate
The 20-year global campaign to cool the planet, one of the most influential civic movements in human history, was built on two points of reference. The first is visible evidence on every continent of escalating temperatures, melting ice, more ferocious storms, fiercer droughts, and deadlier floods. The second is the wealth of scientific data that […]
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New report suggests more record heat for U.S. this decade and beyond
Heat wave in Bryant Park, N.Y.C.Photo courtesy wolfsavard via FlickrHere in Philly, where the dog days of summer started early, we’re just on the other side of a pair of record-setting days — two days of highs over 100 degrees F. “We’re getting a dramatic taste of the kind of weather we are on course […]
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The climate bill endgame
Cross-posted from the NRDC Switchboard blog. To cap or not to cap? That is the question … The most important component of an effective climate bill — one that helps the economy recover and assures that greenhouse gas emissions will decline rapidly over the decades to come — is setting a cap on emissions. Opponents […]
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Me, on the Mike Malloy show
Yesterday, I went on the Mike Malloy show, which was being guest-hosted by Brad Friedman of BradBlog and Green News Report fame. I was on to explain the basics of cap-and-trade and defend it from attacks. That, apparently, is my lot in life. Here’s the first segment (you’ll have to fast forward to about 11:15): […]
