Climate Politics
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World Bank vote gives billions to coal
It's bad news for clean energy and our planet today, as the United States failed to follow its own global warming guidelines. The World Bank today approved a $3.75 billion loan to South African power utility Eskom to help build a 4,800 megawatt coal-fired power plant in Medupi. The funding would also facilitate plans for a second large coal plant in Kusile. The coal plants will be among the largest and most polluting worldwide.
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Energy production vs. environmental protection: The partisan divide
Via Samantha Thompson, a new Gallup poll found that, for the first time in 10 years of polling, Americans prioritize energy production over the protection of the environment. Here is the key chart: While the chart is compelling, it falls short on multiple levels. 1. The options it presents are a false dichotomy. We have […]
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St. Louis votes for better transit, despite Tea Party campaign
Here’s some good news: St. Louis citizens want robust mass transit, and they’re willing to pay for it. Despite a Tea Party opposition campaign, St. Louis County voters on Tuesday approved a half-cent sales tax increase to stabilize and eventually expand the region’s ailing transit network. The measure passed by a monstrous 24 point margin. […]
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A lesson from California’s bad ballot measure
California’s nascent cap-and-trade program appears to be threatened by a ballot measure that is both substantively idiotic and yet diabolically clever. Basically, the measure would suspend implementation until California’s unemployment rate declines to below 5.5 percent. Financial backing comes from oil companies and other big polluters. Shocking, I know. Anyway, it’s a stupid idea on […]
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Does coal mining matter to our energy future?
So I’m reading a story about what effect the recent West Virginia coal mine disaster will have on national energy policy, and I run across this jaw-dropping quote: “This is a mining accident,” says Bill Wicker, communications director for the Senate Energy Committee. “This issue involves the health and safety of our miners, not our […]
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Energy trumps the environment, poll finds
The majority of Americans prioritize the development of energy supplies over the protection of the environment, a new Gallup poll has found, the first time this has happened in the question’s ten-year history. Conducted in early March, before President Obama’s announcement that he would open much of America’s coastlines to offshore drilling, the poll’s results […]
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A firestorm of comments over LaHood’s big bike speech
LaHood steps up at the National Bike Summit on March 11.Courtesy BikePortland via FlickrFour weeks ago Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood climbed on a table and declared the reign of the almighty auto was finished. Federal transportation funding would no longer favor cars at the expense of bicycling, walking, and mass transit, said the 65-year-old Republican […]
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The Seattle project
Courtesy Michael @ NW Lens via FlickrOn a wintery, gusty morning last Saturday, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn rode his bicycle down from his north-side home to a downtown architecture and design firm for a rather unmayoral event. Some 60 or 70 people had gathered for a daylong “unconference,” a loosely organized bring-your-own-lunch affair, to plot […]
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We need birth control, not geoengineering
I’ve written about my choice not to have children. What’s all too easy to forget is that many women still don’t have any reasonable choice about their fertility. An estimated 200 million women around the world don’t have access to family-planning tools. If they did, 52 million unwanted pregnancies could be averted every year, according […]
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Abandoning Congress is not a winning strategy for climate activists
Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. Senators drafting comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation are negotiating with polluters, and talking about combining a cap on carbon with public incentives for nuclear plants, “clean coal,” and offshore drilling. Should supporters of strong, progressive action to solve the climate crisis give up on Congress and work within the […]
