Climate Politics

Bush prepares to give climate speech

As suspected, President George W. Bush will spell out a strategy for cutting greenhouse-gas emissions in a speech today. According to a White House official, “He’ll set a national economy-wide goal of stopping the growth of greenhouse gas emissions by 2025,” but will decline to outline a specific plan. Bush will reportedly also say that […]

A letter from a climate scientist to Nevada’s governor

The following is a open letter to Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons from noted climate scientist James Hansen.

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Dear Governor Gibbons,

I am honored to be the recipient of the Desert Research Institute's annual Nevada Medal this year and to attend the awards ceremonies hosted by you and the First Lady.

I hope that I may communicate with you as a fellow parent and grandparent about a matter that will have great effects upon the lives of our loved ones. I refer to climate change, specifically global warming in response to human-made carbon dioxide (CO2) and other pollutants. This topic has long remained in the background, but it is now poised to become a dominant national and international issue in years ahead.

Global warming presents challenges to political leaders, but also great opportunities, especially for your state. Nevada has the potential to be a national leader in protecting the environment and implementing technologies that can mitigate the crisis posed by global warming.

First, however, I want to make you aware of rapid progress in understanding of global warming. Warming so far, averaging 2 degrees Fahrenheit over land areas, is smaller than weather fluctuations. Yet it already has noticeable effects and more is "in the pipeline," even without further increases of CO2, because of climate system inertia that delays the full climate response.

Effects of global warming are already seen in Nevada. One result is increased wildfires. Longer summers mean more dried out fuels, allowing fires to ignite easier and spread faster. The wildfire season in the West is now 78 days longer than it was 30 years ago. And the average duration of fires covering more than 2,500 acres has risen five-fold.

As the planet continues to warm, these and other impacts will grow worse for Nevada and the American West. The world's leading climate researchers conclude that, if greenhouse gases continue to increase, the region faces:

How expensive is food, really?

There is no doubt whatsoever that rising food costs are hurting people all over the world. More than half of the world's population spends 50 percent of their income or more on food, and the massive rise in staple prices threatens to increase famine rates drastically. We are already seeing the early signs of this in Haiti and in other poor nations.

It is also undoubtedly true that rising food prices are digging into the budgets of average people, including me. And I've got it easy. The 35 million Americans who are food insecure (that is, they may or may not go hungry in any given month, but they aren't sure there's going to be food) are increasingly stretched. Supportive resources like food pantries are increasingly tapped. And regular folks are finding that food and energy inflation are cutting into their budgets substantially. The rises in food and energy prices alone have eroded real wages by 1.2 percent. The USDA chief economist has announced that overall food prices will probably rise by another 3 to 4 percent this year, and grain products will rise considerably more.

But there's another side to this coin. Rising food prices are, to some extent, good for farmers. Certainly, large grain farmers in the U.S., Canada, and many other rich nations have been experiencing a well deserved boom. And there are plenty of people, myself included, who have been arguing for years that we don't pay enough of the true costs of our food. Who is right? How do you balance the merits and demerits of food prices?

Analysis: Bush announcement attempt to subvert action

As David mentioned, The Washington Times reported today that "President Bush is poised to change course and announce as early as this week that he wants Congress to pass a bill to combat global warming, and will lay out principles for what that should include." However, "it is not clear exactly what Mr. Bush will propose." Although this announcement comes as we head into the Earth Day weekend, Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino claimed it's just a coincidence.

Stephen Dinan writes that Bush and conservatives are now focusing on the possibility that "runaway" global warming legislation will cause a "disaster" and a "nightmare." Asked about The Washington Times story, Dana Perino warned today of a "regulatory train wreck with many different laws, such as the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act."

Perino all but admitted this leaked announcement is a "trial balloon" to try out new conservative talking points. When she was asked when the Bush plan would be released:

It could be never.

Watch it:

Bush to push for climate legislation?

This is in the Washington Times, so take it with a very large grain of salt: President Bush is poised to change course and announce as early as this week that he wants Congress to pass a bill to combat global warming, and will lay out principles for what that should include. Specifics of the […]

The legislation isn’t perfect, but it’s far better than extending the 2002 bill

With the new farm bill languishing in the last stages of negotiations, many are bemoaning its lack of sweeping reform, suggesting that we have gained very little from months and years of work.

But if the new bill is not to be the visionary document that many hoped and advocated for, what, if anything, do we stand to lose if the new bill is vetoed or negotiations reach an impasse and the 2002 farm bill is extended for two years?

There are several small but important gains that we are poised to win if the new farm bill gets passed, making it an improvement over the underlying bill from 2002. These improvements include provisions that support local and regional food systems, organic production and research, beginning farmers, nutrition, and the environment, and they are the reason why Congress should pass a new farm bill.

These bright spots in an otherwise murky and massive bill are not likely to induce a major change to our broken-down food system, but they are seeds we must plant for greater reform and broader transformation in the years to come.

Bush may turn about-face, ask Congress to address climate change

President Bush may soon announce that he wants Congress to pass a climate-change-fightin’ bill, and will lay out suggestions for what that should include as early as this week, according to the Washington Times. Republican Congressfolk reportedly are cautioning the administration not to go too crazy. The U.S.-led climate group of major economies meets this […]

Clinton, Obama questioned on climate change at religion forum

Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were asked about climate change as part of the Compassion Forum, a gathering focused on eliciting the candidates’ views on matters of faith. Asked whether Americans can combat global poverty and climate change without changing their standard of living, Clinton got all “10 things you can do,” […]

Presidential advisers discuss climate and energy on C-SPAN

On Friday, C-SPAN hosted an event with energy/environment advisers from all three campaigns — attending were Jason Grumet (Obama), James Woolsey (McCain), and Todd Stern (Clinton). (A slightly different threesome than the one I saw at the WSJ conference.) You can watch streaming video of the event here. I haven’t watched through the whole thing […]

Clinton & Obama to be queried on CNN tonight at 8pm EST on climate

Dem hopefuls Clinton and Obama will participate live tonight in The Compassion Forum, a discussion of "pressing moral issues that bridge ideological divides" including poverty, AIDS, Darfur, human rights, torture, and ... drumroll please ... climate change.

The pair will field questions from CNN and Newsweek talking heads as well as from members of the faith community. The Rev Sally Bingham, of the very cool Interfaith Power and Light Campaign will be asking the climate questions. Go get 'em, Sally!

And for the interest of any political strategists out there, this forum is slated to be broadcast on Church Communications Network to tens of thousands of people in 1,000+ congregations nationwide on April 20, the Sunday evening before the PA primary.