Climate Politics

Congress finally passes veto-proof farm bill

Defying President Bush’s veto threat, the Senate joined the House Thursday in voting “yay” on the $289 billion omnibus legislation that covers everything from farm subsidies to food stamps. In both chambers, support for the bill tallied strong enough to override Bush’s threatened veto. The legislation has bitterly divided the sustainable-agriculture world. Supporters acknowledge the […]

Ed Norton goes to the Hill to talk up green building

Ed Norton will go green — literally — next month when he hits the big screen as The Incredible Hulk. But on Wednesday he was on the Hill talking up the virtues of going green figuratively, in our building practices. Ed Norton on the Hill. Norton appeared before the House Select Committee for Energy Independence […]

Grist asks McCain about contradictory messages on nuclear subsidies

John McCain hosted a call-in with bloggers today following his address in Columbus, Ohio, in which he outlined his priorities for a first term in office. Grist got in a couple of questions: You mentioned climate and energy in your speech today, that they would be among your top priorities, and that has also been […]

McCain outlines priorities for first term; climate and energy make the cut

John McCain is in Ohio today, where he gave a speech this morning about what he plans to accomplish by 2013. Progress on climate and energy is part of his vision for a better world at the end of his first term: The United States is well on the way to independence from foreign sources […]

Polar bear is endangered, but ‘Rule will allow continuation of vital energy production in Alaska’

The Department of Interior suffers from a rare form of bipolar disorder called bye-polar disorder. There is one major symptom of this disorder: You list the polar bear as "threatened" because of its melting polar sea ice habitat, but then do nothing to actually protect that polar habitat from its primary threat, greenhouse-gas emissions from fossil fuel combustion.

The disorder is accompanied by an occasional burst of logic, as when the DOI noted:

John Edwards endorses Barack Obama

Former presidential hopeful John Edwards has at long last endorsed a candidate: Barack Obama. Edwards, whose strong stances on the environment pushed his Democratic rivals to toughen their green proposals, said of his choice, “Democratic voters in America have made their choice and so have I.” Hillary Clinton‘s campaign, which had also pursued Edwards’ endorsement, […]

Bush admin to list polar bears as threatened; advocates pledge to continue the fight

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne was flanked by two large television screens rolling video of polar bears as he discussed his department’s decision Wednesday to declare the bears “threatened.” The video bears — and the bears in the many photos on display at the press conference — were fat and happy, wrestling on solid ice floes […]

Lisa Heinzerling responds to Richard Revesz on cost-benefit analysis

The efficient wasteland

In his essay, Richard Revesz argues in favor of a "cost-benefit environmentalism" that embraces economic analysis and "uses both reason and compassion to justify strong environmental rules." It is wonderful to have such a prominent fan of cost-benefit analysis explicitly embrace environmental values; this doesn't happen every day. The trouble is, however, that cost-benefit analysis is at odds with fundamental premises of environmentalism, and it's not particularly good at either reason or compassion.

Environmentalism has many subtleties and variations, but I think most environmentalists share certain core beliefs. They are convinced that the future matters -- that we should protect the earth and its inhabitants into the indefinite future. They worry about other people and other living creatures and about their own complicity in causing others' suffering through environmental degradation. They prefer concreteness over abstraction: They don't just want to read about nature; they want to experience it. They understand the reasons that reason cannot know: the small shiver of joy upon seeing spring's first warbler, the glimpse of the infinite in a summer storm.

Race mattered in the W.Va. primary, but will it keep mattering?

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

Charleston, W.Va. -- According to the exit polls, I was hanging out with a bunch of racially challenged Hillary supporters at last night's victory party here.

One in five West Virginia voters fessed up that race was an important factor in their choice of a candidate –- and they didn't mean they saw Obama's diverse heritage as a positive. How do we know that? Because of those who walked right up to pollsters and said out loud that race was the elephant in their donkey-party living room, 81 percent voted for Clinton. Not only that, but 7 percent of West Virginia voters went for John Edwards –- who ended his run decades ago, as measured in political time –- but was the only white dude still on the ballot. What does that tell us? Nothing we want to hear.

Talking about where the candidates stand on climate and environmental policy

Shameless self-promotion alert: I was on the program “The Conversation,” which airs on the Seattle NPR affiliate KUOW, last night talking about McCain’s climate plan and where the presidential contenders stand on environmental policy. I’m about 10 minutes in, and as you can tell by the smattering of “uhs” and “ums,” there’s a reason why […]