Climate Politics
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The tough task of evaluating Kyoto
The Kyoto Protocol has taken criticism from all sides over the years. But in fairness, it is important to recognize that, according to almost any estimate, the treaty has resulted in surpassed targets in some nations, significant emissions reductions even in nations that may miss their targets, and a marked improvement over business-as-usual had there been no […]
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‘The Story of Cap-and-Trade’: This moment demands better solutions
The subtitle of The Story of Cap-and-Trade — the short film released this week by The Story of Stuff Project, Climate Justice Now, and the Durban Group for Climate Justice — is “Why you can’t solve a problem with the thinking that created it.” Our goal in releasing the film was to make a simple […]
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Graham says Obama has his back on climate bill
Sen. Lindsey Graham may be under fire from conservatives back home in South Carolina. But the Republican got a personal assurance from President Obama yesterday that the White House is supporting his efforts to craft a sweeping Senate energy and global warming bill. “The president told me personally he was very open, that nuclear power […]
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John Holdren on the hacked emails and the state of climate science
I’ll post Lubchenco’s equally terrific opening statement — which includes a couple of science demonstrations (!) on ocean acidification — when they are up. You can see all the videos and photos here. Here is the closing statement of Chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.): Here is the Q&A period of Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.):
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‘An overwhelming bias toward inaction’
Anyone who wants any kind of reform in this country need to grapple with Ezra Klein’s important and clearly argued insight into our current system of “government”: The U.S. Congress is hostile not only to liberal power, but also to conservative power, and for that matter, to majority governance. The rules trump the election, trump […]
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Byrd calls tactics of ‘fear mongering’ coal industry ‘morally indefensible’
Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. The West Virginia coal industry has become a virulent opponent of President Barack Obama’s reform agenda, and the state’s political leaders have cheered it on. In June, West Virginia declared coal the state rock. In September, the coal industry sponsored a rock concert and rally to […]
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America’s greenest mayor, laid off and looking on
Greg Nickels. It was a dark, dreary, drizzly November morning in Seattle when I visited Greg Nickels, the city’s lame-duck mayor and an influential national voice on the need for climate action over the last decade. Outside the LEED Gold-certified City Hall, a gray murk hung in the air, nearly obscuring Elliott Bay five blocks […]
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Conservative economist Randall Lutter to OIRA?
For a number of days now, we’ve been hearing rumors that Cass Sunstein, President Obama’s “regulatory czar,” was on the verge of hiring conservative economist Randall Lutter to join him at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). Few personnel developments could be more discouraging to those hopeful that the Obama Administration will fulfill […]
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The culture wars become the climate wars
I’ve been wading through hate mail for the last week after referring to the governor of Utah’s “raging ignorance” on climate science in an AP news story. The mail doesn’t come from defenders of the governor, (he’s denying climate science in a state known for, and economically supported by, some of the best powder west […]
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Cataloguing the errors in “The Story of Cap-and-Trade”
Just colossally ignorant. That was all I could think to say on viewing the latest eco-video web sensation, “The Story of Cap-and-Trade” by Annie Leonard and Co. No one does a circular firing squad like the Left and this contribution is a potential Hall of Famer. Leonard has a disarming Every Gal schtick, but it masks […]
