Climate Politics
All Stories
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Unintended Consequences of Government Policies: The Depletion of America’s Wetlands
Private land-use decisions can be affected dramatically by public investments in highways, waterways, flood control, or other infrastructure. The large movement of jobs from central cities to suburbs in the postwar United States and the ongoing destruction of Amazon rain forests have occurred with major public investment in supporting infrastructure. As these examples suggest, private […]
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Battle for the soul of organic dairy farmers goes on behind the scenes
There is a battle going on in the White House for the very soul of the organic dairy movement — and possibly over the future of small family-operated dairy farms — and you don’t even know it. I’d like to think that I’m overstating things but no. At issue is an obscure rule in the […]
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Green celebs bring sexy back to Senate politics
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is taking a page out of David Roberts’ book by railing on the U.S. Senate to pass the clean energy jobs bill in this celebri-full video. It formally launches a new video advocacy campaign called This is Our Moment, which is banking on the pure pop-sexiness of stars like […]
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The Climate Post: The documents … they are … Alive! Alive!
First things first: With the electorate angry and frustrated, President Obama delivered a State of the Union address last night that articulated his goals for, among other things, modernizing the U.S. energy system and infrastructure, and addressing climate change. The president called for “a comprehensive energy and climate bill with incentives that will finally make […]
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Enviros take action to counter the might of the coal ash lobby
Today is the National Day of Action on Coal Ash, an effort by environmental advocates and concerned citizens to urge the Environmental Protection Agency to release its promised rule regulating disposal of the toxic byproduct of burning coal for electricity — and to classify the stuff as hazardous waste. The effort comes the day after […]
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Ben Nelson’s logically incoherent stance on cap-and-trade
Cross-posted from The Wonk Room. There seems to be something about climate policy that encourages senators to take positions that are logically impossible. In the latest instance, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) has now managed to simultaneously oppose and support a carbon command-and-control regime. Nelson is one of three Democrats to co-sponsor Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Ark.) […]
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National Day of Action Against Coal Ash
On Thursday, Jan 28th, Sierra Club and our allies at Earthjustice, Environmental Integrity Project, NRDC and grassroots groups across the country are participating in a national day of action to urge the Obama Administration to move forward with strong, federally enforceable rules to regulate coal ash disposal. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is working […]
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Cap-and-trade death knell, revisited and revised
I have been scolded by several progressive green friends for my post on Sen. Lindsey Graham’s comments on cap-and-trade. I should admit up front that “death knell” was a bit dramatic on my part; generally speaking, it’s better never to draw big conclusions from the kind of lazy reporting done by the likes of The […]
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In State of the Union, Obama panders to conservatives on ‘clean energy’
I’m never sure how to write these reaction pieces to the State of the Union. I’m far past the point when my reactions bear any relation to Normal People’s. By all indications, Normal People loved Obama’s speech — instapolls showed positive reactions. Reviews from the punditocracy seem generally positive as well. Hell, Chris Matthews forgot […]
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The climate and energy section of Obama’s State of the Union speech
The text of Obama’s speech has been released. Here’s what it says about climate and energy: Next, we need to encourage American innovation. Last year, we made the largest investment in basic research funding in history – an investment that could lead to the world’s cheapest solar cells or treatment that kills cancer cells but […]
