Climate Politics
All Stories
-
![]()
![]()
Debate on climate bill delayed until next week
Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), authors of the draft climate bill in the House that was hotly debated last week, announced on Monday that they will wait until next week to offer the bill up for amendments. That process had originally been planned to take place in the Energy and Environment Subcommittee […]
-
![]()
![]()
Science in the planet’s interest
The White House today announced the members of President Obama’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology. The distinguished group will be co-lead (unsurprisingly) by John Holdren, the president’s top science adviser and an environmental science expert. Other climate/energy experts on the panel include: Rosina Bierbaum, a widely-recognized expert in climate-change science and ecology, is […]
-
![]()
![]()
A false choice from a familiar skeptic
He’s still skeptical. So are we. Courtesy of Lomborg.comBjorn Lomborg — Danish statistician, self-styled “Skeptical Environmentalist,” and long-time Grist nemesis — found his way onto the New York Times op-ed page over the weekend, arguing that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a hopeless cause and that public money is better spent on research and development […]
-
![]()
![]()
Obama could create a cap-and-trade system without Congress
The new Congress has been making up for lost time on climate change. Senators and Representatives have been rushing to get a cap-and-something passed this year. At the same time there are fears that it may be impossible to build a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate for a good climate bill, leaving greens with two […]
-
![]()
![]()
First day on the job!
It’s hard to tell, but that’s Greenpeace Executive Director Phil Radford standing atop a construction crane mast as Greenpeace activists display a banner near the State Department in Washington, D.C.Greenpeace / Tim AubryPhil Radford spent his first day on the job as Greenpeace USA’s new executive director getting himself arrested by staging a bit of […]
-
Rep. Michele Bachmann says CO2 is ‘a natural byproduct of nature’
We’ve heard Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) rant about cap-and-trade in the past. Last week, on Earth Day, she attempted a scientific explanation of why carbon dioxide is not a problem. “Carbon dioxide is a natural byproduct of nature!” she said. Carbon dioxide is natural. It occurs in Earth. It is a part of the regular […]
-
Will Sen. Rockefeller Snub or Praise Goldman Prize Winner?
Celebrations took place around the globe last week for the winners of the Goldman Prize, the largest award in the world given for environmental activism by grassroots leaders. One person is selected from each continent to receive this huge award–the Nobel Prize for today’s green innovators and brave citizens who are willing to risk their […]
-
One simple change that could vastly improve Waxman-Markey
Certainly the weakest part of Waxman-Markey is the 2 billion rip-offsets that polluters are allowed to purchase each year in place of reducing their own greenhouse gas emissions. After all, total U.S. GHGs in 2005 were about 7.2 billion tons. Rip-offsets deserve to be called rip-offsets because it is far from clear how many of […]
-
![]()
![]()
Obama’s first 100 days make — and may remake — history
The media just keeps missing — or messing up — the story of the century. Future historians will inevitably judge all 21st-century presidents on just two issues: global warming and the clean energy transition. If the world doesn’t stop catastrophic climate change — Hell and High Water — then all presidents, indeed, all of us, […]
-
![]()
![]()
McCain wants a climate policy that benefits the rich
I see John McCain is upset by the fact that Obama wants to auction 100% of cap-and-trade permits. He wants the vast bulk of the permits to be given away to businesses. There are lots of complicated, obscure issues around carbon policy, but this is not one of them. Let’s be very very clear about […]
