Climate Politics
All Stories
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Carter to Obama: Don’t chip a tooth!
“It was like gnawing on a rock.” — Former president Jimmy Carter, on his efforts to change America’s energy habits
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Post-Kyoto international climate negotiations will depend on China’s cooperation
[Given the importance of China to the fate of the climate, I am happy to introduce a new guest blogger, Robert Collier [PDF]. He is a visiting scholar at U.C. Berkeley, writing a book about China and global warming. He is a former senior foreign-affairs correspondent for the San Francisco Chronicle who reported “from a […]
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Where does Interior pick Salazar stand on key environmental issues?
What does Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar’s likely appointment to head the Department of Interior mean for environmental and energy policy? A few episodes from his congressional career may shed some light. Salazar has only been in the Senate since 2005, so he hasn’t racked up a lengthy voting record. His lifetime score from the League […]
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The lead environmental negotiator should be …
The Reality-Based Community blog proposes that Obama appoint a U.S. lead climate negotiator who is based in the office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Interesting.
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I still heart Seth Borenstein
One of the first blog posts I ever wrote bore the headline "I heart Seth Borenstein." Back then, Borenstein was the environment writer for Knight Ridder, and he distinguished himself by cutting through the typical he-said she-said haze to describe environmental dangers directly and forthrightly. Now he’s a science writer for AP, and he’s still […]
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Steven Chu is a progressive environmentalist because he’s a good scientist
I’ve been reading the discussion sparked by Chris Hayes’ latest piece in The Nation — "The Pragmatist," about Obama’s much-discussed pragmatism — with interest. Pragmatism is a subject dear to my heart, something I studied in grad school, though the kind you study there and what goes by the name in political discussion bear little […]
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Why the much-ballyhooed utility decoupling is inadequate
I meant last week to note the extremely promising fact that Dems are talking about using the stimulus to funnel substantial money to states for energy efficiency projects — and tying that money to utility decoupling. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), in comments to the Northwest Energy Coalition earlier this month, said this is how it […]
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WaPo editorial reflects lazy resort to gas tax as answer to carbon troubles
The Washington Post has an editorial on the challenges of addressing global warming that contains this passage: To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lessen dependence on fossil fuels, there must be a price on carbon. A cap-and-trade system is the easiest way to integrate into an international regime, but its pitfalls are legion. A gas […]
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A united environmental community gets attention from the Obama team
Enviros come together to pitch Obama on green plan. Green groups in D.C. seem downright giddy about all the signals they’re getting from Obamaland thus far. From appointments to key posts to his pledge earlier this month to “launch a massive effort to make public buildings more energy efficient,” there’s a lot of anticipation that […]