Climate Politics
All Stories
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Sixty or Fifty?
60 or 50? So much depends on those numbers. The news went barely noticed a few weeks back: almost every school district in the state of Washington that put a levy or bond measure on the February ballot won voter approval. Despite the worst recession in decades, citizens stood behind their public schools and agreed […]
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Don’t buy Obama’s greenwashing of nuclear power
On Feb. 16, while President Obama was in Maryland announcing an $8.3 billion taxpayer-backed loan guarantee for Southern Company to build two new nuclear reactors in Georgia, inspectors at the Vermont Yankee reactor were finding dangerously high levels of tritium, a radioactive cancer-causing chemical, in the groundwater near the plant. The next week, the Vermont […]
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Using behavioral science to make smarter energy policy
On Friday, journalist John Fleck made a great point, comparing coverage of two new pieces in Science. One is about the latest potential climate disaster: methane venting from the seafloor in the Arctic. The second is about a promising new climate solution: using behavioral science to influence energy use. Not surprisingly, the disaster got tons […]
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Why are women being left out of climate decision-making?
When will we finally break through this damn glass ceiling?U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced an important new climate change financing group last week, but out of the 19 people named, no women were included. This is unfortunate because women will bear the brunt of the effects of climate change and are key to any climate […]
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Why not structure climate bills to win popular support?
Mainstream environmentalists tackling the climate crisis prioritize pricing greenhouse gas emissions over alternative policies to cool our fevered planet. The ACES climate bill that passed the House would weaken renewable rules, add massive offsets, and kill much existing EPA authority to fight climate change. The “simple” Cantwell-Collins cap-and-dividend bill focuses on an auctioned permit system […]
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Murkowski to Senate: Drill the Arctic or my state gets it!
Senator Lisa Murkowski (D-Alaska) gave a long impassioned speech when she introduced her “Dirty Air Act” – a Congressional Review Act resolution that would overturn EPA’s scientific finding that carbon pollution threatens public health and the environment. One of her complaints was that the threat of impending EPA Clean Air Act implementation would force the […]
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Are GMOs the ‘financial innovations’ of agriculture?
(Photoillustration by Grist)Financial blogger Felix Salmon has an essay in Foreign Policy called “How Locavores Can Save the World” — expanded, by the way, from a wonderful blog post he wrote after attending a panel discussion on world hunger at the Davos World Economic Forum in the company of Blue Hill Farm’s Dan Barber. Salmon […]
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Stupid things senators are saying about the Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman proposal
Over the weekend, Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) released some details about their upcoming “tripartisan” energy/climate bill. (I wrote about it here.) This has prompted a flurry of press coverage, as various senators and interest groups react to the proposal. The result? A torrent of confusion, nonsense, and outright […]
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Is Bill Barrett Corp's Major Lobbying Spree Aimed at Ken Salazar?
In the fall of 2008, the outgoing Bush administration gave the oil and gas industry a parting gift that now threatens to destroy the Roan Plateau in Colorado, an area known for its stunning vistas, “beloved by hunters, anglers and hikers for its clear streams, herds of deer and elk, and rugged beauty.” The Roan, […]
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Sen. Blanche Lincoln faces a challenger from the left, but is he any better on the environment?
Blanche Lincoln Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter (D) is mounting a primary challenge against conservative Democrat Blanche Lincoln for the U.S. Senate seat she’s held for two terms. Environmentalists and progressives have it in for Lincoln, angry over her opposition to high-profile Democratic issues like a public option in health care and cap-and-trade. The Sierra […]
