Climate Politics

Talking with voters in Portland about the environment and the election

 

This is part of a series of dispatches from Melinda Henneberger, who's talking to voters around the U.S. about their views on the environment and the election.

Portland, Ore. -- Oh, the indignity of tooling around environmentally aware Portland in a big-dog SUV, in between conversations about the environment. Even the guy at the rental-car counter was apologetic: "I know," he said, when I gulped at the news that my economy car had been super-sized. "No one wants them, but we have to give them to somebody."

Just as gay people grow up and move to San Francisco or New York, green people grow up and move here. Years before I began sorting bottles and cans on the other coast, my buddy who is a Kansan-turned-Oregonian was struggling to convey just how bad her new boss really was: "Melinda," she finally told me, "he does not even recycle."

My friend's next-door neighbors are transplanted Texans, Linda d'Onofrio and Andrew Migliore, who as d'Onofrio says "came here for local produce and a forward way of thinking." Even so, it took them a while to settle in with their chosen tribe: "I didn't grow up around political correctness, and we had a hard time the first couple of years," says d'Onofrio. "We'd say tasteless things about everybody's race, religion, animals; we'd make kitty taco jokes" -- not widely appreciated by "people who will stop you on the street and tell you what they think of your Hummer." Now, though, this is home, and the whole moment is more subdued: "My sister's a true Communist who goes around the world teaching micro-banking, my brother's a true Fascist with his boots in the corner, and we used to have the best conversations, but all the fun has been sucked out of that. The conversation has stopped because it's not funny anymore; you can't make jokes about Abu Ghraib and melting ice caps."

Obama heads to Nevada, takes on McCain in energy policy address

Not to let John McCain have all the attention on energy policy this week, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama gave a speech on energy today in Springs Preserve, a 180-acre area in Nevada dedicated to sustainability. “What we are seeing here … is that a green, renewable energy economy isn’t some pie-in-the-sky, far-off future, it […]

Revkin interviews Hansen

Here, NYT reporter Andrew Revkin interviews climate scientist James Hansen about the 20th anniversary of his seminal Congressional testimony: More on Dot Earth.

Select Committee acquires documents related to EPA’s proposals for rulemaking on auto emissions

We reported a few weeks ago that the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming had reached a deal with the White House to secure documents from the Environmental Protection Agency on its work in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in the case Massachusetts v. EPA. We also reported that The Wall […]

Short-term targets key to long-term stabilization

Ken Ward takes a worthwhile look at the goalposts for U.S. climate policy in his argument for making 350 parts per million the new bright line for success. We agree that we need to aim lower than 450 ppm -- the world is at roughly 380 ppm now, and we're already witnessing adverse climate impacts.

But we part ways when it comes to how we're going to get there. Ward suggests that EDF's support for the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act can't be reconciled with a stabilization target below 450 ppm, because the bill as written wouldn't drive sufficient emissions reductions. In fact, there's nothing incompatible about the two. Here's why:

Day two of the UN Dispatch-Grist collaboration

Our weeklong collaboration with UN Dispatch rolls on today with a discussion prompted by On Day One user taylorshelton who suggests government subsidies for non-renewable energy should be eliminated.

Eliminate all subsidies for traditional fuels (coal, oil and nuclear) and invest all energy-related funds into renewable energy resources like solar, wind and cellulosic ethanol with the goal of completely eliminating dependence on fossil fuels and nuclear power.

Nigel Purvis, Kate Sheppard, David Roberts, and Timothy B. Hurst respond below the fold.

Mayors resolve to phase out city spending on bottled water

The U.S. Conference of Mayors passed a resolution Monday to phase out city spending on bottled water. “Cities are sending the wrong message about the quality of public water when we spend taxpayer dollars on water in disposable containers from a private corporation,” said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, adding, “The fact is, our tap […]

GOP candidate calls for energy efficiency in a California speech

John McCain gave yet another address on energy and environmental issues today (the third in the past week, if you’re counting), this one focused on energy efficiency, which he says should begin at home with the federal government. “Energy efficiency is no longer just a moral luxury or a personal virtue,” he told a crowd […]

My kingdom for a so-called expert

Sam Stein goes looking for an energy expert who will endorse John McCain’s contention that oil drilling will provide short-term price relief. You can guess the rest.

Saudi Arabia to host summit on high gas prices

Since when do we deal with our addiction by going to summits hosted by drug suppliers? Yet here is the Washington Post:

"Saudi Arabian Oil Summit Hopes to Isolate Cause of Price Rise"

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia, June 21 -- Leaders from oil-producing and oil-consuming nations will meet here Sunday to try to pinpoint the reasons behind the rise in oil prices, which have doubled over the past year, and to find ways to bring them down.