Climate Politics
All Stories
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How to make 1.7 million new clean energy jobs permanent
The challenges facing President Obama and the U.S. Congress have not gone away. Paul Krugman worries that “unemployment is likely to stay near its current level for a year or more,” because “much of the political establishment now sees stimulus as having been discredited by events, so that it’s very hard to come back and […]
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Annie Leonard misses the mark in her new video, “The Story of Cap-and-Trade”
The greenosphere is all abuzz about a new video from Annie Leonard, creator of semi-famous anti-consumerism video/book The Story of Stuff. It’s being billed as a definitive debunking of cap-and-trade, but it’s more like a perfect representation of all the confusion and misplaced focus that plagues the green left right now. Here it is: Now, […]
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Optimistic or pessimistic about the Copenhagen climate talks?
The COP15 climate conference starts next week in Copenhagen, and our panel of experts is optimistic … ish. We asked them, “What’s the mood as Copenhagen approaches?” Many say they draw inspiration from the fast-growing, increasingly diverse, grassroots global climate movement. But they aren’t under the delusion that Copenhagen will produce the comprehensive, legally binding […]
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Jonathan Safran Foer on his book ‘Eating Animals’
If you’re a meat eater, don’t read Jonathan Safran Foer’s new book Eating Animals. Unless, that is, you are a meat eater curious about the health of your body, the planet, or the animals you consume. The acclaimed author of Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Foer, has been an on-again, off-again […]
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Lomborg v. Monbiot: liveblogging the Munk debate on climate change
Editor’s note: The chat’s now over, but you can replay it in full. Today I’ll be liveblogging a debate on how the world should respond to climate change. Arguing for a vigorous response will be Elizabeth May, head of Canada’s Green Party, and noted author/thinker George Monbiot. Arguing for giving climate change a low priority, […]
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John Cornyn (R-Texas)
Sen. John Cornyn is expected to vote against a climate bill, and that’s confirmed in this letter he wrote to a constituent. He argues that the Kerry-Boxer climate bill would “create a massive new government bureaucracy, raise energy prices, increase taxes, and send American jobs overseas.” Dear [Constituent]: Thank you for contacting me regarding a […]
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Never-give-up fighting spirit: lessons from a grandchild
Such negative questions and attitudes are increasing. How refreshing, on cold, windy Thanksgiving Plus One Day, which we spend with our children and grandchildren, when I went outside to shoot baskets with 5-year-old Connor. Connor is very bright, but needs work on his hand-to-eye coordination. I set the basket at a convenient height for him, […]
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Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii)
Sen. Daniel Akaka is considered a likely “yes” vote on climate legislation, but in this letter sent to a constituent in late November 2009, he doesn’t reveal much of anything about his views on climate change or what should be done about it. Dear [Constituent]: Thank you for your comments on climate change and energy […]
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Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)
Sen. Charles Schumer is an advocate for climate legislation and said in July that he believed such legislation would attract the 60 needed votes. In this letter to a constituent, Schumer expresses his support for a bill “that gets America running on clean energy, ends our dependence on foreign oil and includes energy incentives that […]
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Soil carbon — a blind spot in the debate on carbon
COP15 looks like it may well be a cop out. The world was disappointed when it became clear Barack Obama would not get climate protection legislation through the U.S. Senate, endangering any meaningful global agreement. But a much earlier cop out came when agriculture failed to make it onto the agenda at all. There is […]
