Climate Politics

Notable quotable

“His being on the Green Party [ballot] prevented Al Gore from being the greenest president we could have had, and I think that’s really unfortunate. I think we paid a big price for it. I’m pretty sad about that. — Hillary Clinton, on Ralph Nader’s entry into the 2008 presidential race

Ralph Nader jumps into the presidential race

“I have decided to run for president,” Ralph Nader declared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning, after listing a litany of problems in America and citing polls that have found citizen discontent with the direction of the country and with both main political parties. Washington, D.C. is “corporate-occupied territory,” he said, and he […]

Ralph Nader announces his presidential run, calls for carbon tax

Nader is officially in the race — and he is now the only big-name presidential candidate who supports a carbon tax. On the issues page of his campaign site, Nader also declares “No to nuclear power, solar energy first.” Only solar? Sounds like he hasn’t thought a lot about renewable energy since the ’70s.

A safety valve in Lieberman-Warner is senseless

I see no point whatsoever in passing a climate bill this year that includes a safety valve. I have blogged on this before, but it bears repeating as we appear to be getting to the endgame negotiations in the Senate on the Lieberman-Warner bill. Bottom line:

If you want to get a 60% to 80% greenhouse gas cut in four decades, you just can't waste time with safety valves. We need to get to a price of $30 to $40 a ton for carbon dioxide as soon as possible -- and if it needs to go higher than that because conservatives block the progressives and moderates from legislating aggressive technology deployment strategies that would keep costs low, well, as the saying goes, "We'll burn that bridge when we come to it."

If you just want to pass a bill that makes it seem like you're doing something while in fact doing little, then go for it! But surely a year's delay (waiting for a somewhat wiser Congress and an infinitely wiser president) is better than a pointless bill.

In an article titled "Sponsors of Senate emissions bill seek compromise on cost provisions," Greenwire (subs. req'd) reports:

Ralph Nader might jump into the presidential race

[UPDATE: Yep, Nader is officially in.] Ralph Nader is set to appear on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday (as David noted), and that has tongues wagging. Might he use the occasion to announce that he’s jumping into the presidential race? As you already know, he ran in 2000, garnering 2.74 percent of the popular […]

Last night’s debate

Yeah, so, there was a Democratic debate last night. Far as I can tell, there wasn’t much said about energy or the environment (except in the clean coal ads brought to viewers by debate sponsor ABEC). Both candidates briefly mentioned creating a green economy, but it wasn’t the subject of any back and forth or […]

First time tragedy, second time farce … what about the third?

Ralph Nader announced his 2004 candidacy for president on NBC’s Meet the Press. According to the Nader exploratory committee, Nader will be appearing on Meet the Press this Sunday. Christ.

Will the next president stop construction on the border wall?

Last night's debate included some good news for the embattled wildlife and landscape of the Southwest.

In response to a question about whether or not they would slow construction of the border wall under construction in the Southwest, both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton criticized the wall as ineffective and counterproductive.

Tasty hatin’

All you Lieberman-Warner haters will not want to miss David Sassoon’s "The 10 Dominoes Toppling Lieberman-Warner."

John McCain scores a big ol’ goose egg on this year’s environmental report card

Today, the League of Conservation Voters released its annual scorecard, which rates legislators based on their votes on issues of environmental significance. The LCV scorecard has its critics, but it’s nonetheless become something of a gold standard when measuring how "green" a lawmaker is. A couple of big stories emerge from this year’s scorecard. The […]