Climate Politics
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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, […]
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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 […]
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Quit arguing with douchebags that everyone hates, part two
Following up a bit on my previous post, let’s make some more specific points. Point number one: Newt Gingrich is a douchebag and everyone hates him. Few figures in American politics (beyond Dick Cheney) are as discredited and unpopular as the bilious windbag Newt, whose renewed prominence as an “intellectual” on the right side of […]
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Quit arguing with douchebags that everyone hates
Catching up with email and blog posts I missed while on vacation for a few weeks has been instructive. It appears to me, from this fresh perspective, that progressive bloggers, journalists, and activists are wasting a lot of their time. To understand why, we need to be clear on the current landscape. Right now, Republicans […]
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Gore and Gingrich bump heads at House climate hearing
Debate on the House climate bill got heated on Friday as Al Gore and Newt Gingrich — two lightning-rod political figures — testified before the Energy and Commerce Committee. Gingrich came crying foul that Congress is poised to begin regulating Jacuzzis, while Gore – you guessed it! –testified to the urgent need to pass an […]
