Climate Politics

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  • Scientists demand meeting to talk climate with head of American Farm Bureau

    It’s not just mountaintop removal mining that’s making activists of scientists. Now a group of 40 climate scientists backed by the Union of Concerned Scientists has written a letter demanding a meeting with American Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman to discuss his group’s continued endorsement of climate denial and refusal to acknowledge the reality of […]

    Tom Laskawy Politics

  • The Climate Post: Warming apparently takes extra time off for holidays

    First things first: Our story left off at the COP-15 negotiations, minutes after world leaders released their three-page Copenhagen Accord [pdf], a broad statement of political intent to address the issues that — according to the (old) U.N. schedule — should have been addressed by now. This result begs the question: Did 2009 end with […]

    Eric Roston Politics

  • Coal: Looking Back at 2009 & Ahead at 2010

    2009 was one hell of a year!  For the first time in more than six years, no new coal-fired power plants broke ground. It is hard to believe, but we are close to closing the book on one of the most dangerous chapters of the Bush-Cheney era – the ill-conceived 2001 Bush-Cheney Energy Plan that […]

    Bruce Nilles Politics

  • Reports of climate bill death are greatly exaggerated

    Despite speculation from a few Beltway pundits, recent events suggest that there is momentum for the passage of a comprehensive clean energy and global warming legislation in 2010. Sen. Lindsay Graham’s (R-S.C.) commitment to work with Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) to craft legislation is a significant political breakthrough. Sen. Graham voted […]

    Daniel J. Weiss Politics

  • Q&A: what will happen with climate legislation in 2010?

    By Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian’s U.S. environment correspondent What is the state of play for climate change legislation in America? Barack Obama put his reputation on the line at Copenhagen by saying America would act on climate change. Now it’s up to Congress. The House of Representatives passed the Waxman-Markey bill last June which would […]

    The Guardian Politics

  • The Trouble with Tribbles

    Grist columns have recently seen a new spate of climate obstructionism. Here’s DaveWR responding to a recent post … “I am old enough to firmly believe in climate change. I was born when the planet was just ending several warming decades which had followed several cooling decades, which were imbedded in the general warming which […]

    Ken Ward Politics

  • TRIPping out: A first step in making the US-India climate dialogue real

    Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away — well, no, actually two months ago in Washington, D.C., President Obama and Indian Prime Minister Singh inked something called the U.S.-India Climate Dialogue. It was a pretty transparent attempt to salvage something from the fact that India would never agree to binding emissions cuts (and probably […]

    Jonathan Zasloff Politics

  • Solar energy’s dirty little secret

    Solar energy has long been one of the great hopes for fighting climate change and liberating the world from fossil fuels. And it’s easy to see why solar has captured the collective imagination: All those photovoltaic panels look so shiny, futuristic, clean, and green. Producing solar PV modules involves a witch’s brew of toxic chemicals. […]

    Todd Woody Politics

  • What might Sen. Byron Dorgan’s retirement mean for climate legislation?

    Sen. Byron Dorgan, a 18-year veteran Democrat, dropped a late-day bombshell, announcing he will retire when his term ends this year. Dorgan’s announcement represents an opportunity for Republicans: North Dakota is a Republican-leaning state, where President Obama got just 45 percent of the vote last year. What’s bad news for the Dems in the longer term […]

    Joseph Romm Politics

  • Richard “Dick” Pombo running for Congress again in California

    Pombo and an old pal.Enviros were thrilled when Richard Pombo, a Republican who represented California’s 11th congressional district for seven terms, was ousted from his seat by a renewable-energy geek in 2006.  Pombo had been deemed Public Enemy No. 1 by the environmental community, which invested big bucks in the effort to beat him. Amanda […]

    Lisa Hymas Politics