Climate Politics

If we aren’t causing it, why would reducing emissions fix it?

According to a new poll, a majority of folks in South Carolina — from both parties — agree that it’s time to do something about global warming. However, while the majority of Democrats polled believe that humans are driving recent warming, a majority of Republicans cite "natural processes." This position by Republicans, which I think […]

Polls point to yes

There’s lots of interesting stuff in this new Quinnipiac poll, particularly this: Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani leads New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and other Democrats in the 2008 presidential race in three critical states – Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to Quinnipiac University’s Swing State Poll, three simultaneous surveys of voters in […]

Legally speaking

California is threatening to sue the U.S. EPA for obstructionism. You’ll recall that the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled decisively that CO2 is a pollutant under the Clean Air Act, and that implementing restrictions on vehicle CO2 emissions does not abrogate the DOT’s authority to set fuel-efficiency standards. That ruling pretty well destroys the legal […]

More exciting than it sounds

British Columbia has just joined Schwarzenegger’s Western Regional Climate Action Initiative, which is meant … … to identify, evaluate and implement ways to collectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the region and to achieve related co-benefits. The initiative requires partners to set an overall regional goal to reduce emissions, develop a market-based, multi-sector mechanism to […]

Video, yo

Here’s Sen. Barbara Boxer (most appropriately named!), discussing global warming at the National Press Club (for 25 min.). Good stuff: (h/t: Hugg)

Shooting for a green capitol

No, it's not a new psychological disorder, but a plan for greening the capitol complex.

Over at Building Design and Construction they've got a piece on the acceptance of a "green the capitol initiative."

Johnson Takes a Pounding

EPA administrator spars with Senate over climate action Senate Democrats badgered EPA administrator Stephen Johnson yesterday about the agency’s greenhouse-gas foot-dragging. They unleashed a barrage of questions at an Environment and Public Works Committee hearing, focusing on the recent Supreme Court ruling that said EPA has the authority to regulate carbon dioxide vehicle emissions. Faced […]

Lots o’ goodies

The Nation has devoted its current issue to "surviving the climate crisis," and it’s chock full o’ good stuff. First up is Jim Hansen, the World’s Least Censored Censored Scientist, who recommends the following five steps: "First, there should be a moratorium on building any more coal-fired power plants until we have the technology to […]

Nothing sexier than debates over ethics!

I forget where I found this, but there’s a good piece on Environmental Research Web about the moral aspects of geoengineering. The author, UW prof Steve Gardiner, raises several concerns, but for my money, this is the most telling: It is not silly to think that substantial investment in geoengineering will itself encourage political inertia […]

Letter to the editor from Arkansas

This is the text of a letter to the editor printed in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on April 16 of this year:

You may have noticed that March of this year was particularly hot. As a matter of fact, I understand that it was the hottest March since the beginning of the last century. All of the trees were fully leafed out and legions of bugs and snakes were crawling around during a time in Arkansas when, on a normal year, we might see a snowflake or two.

This should come as no surprise to any reasonable person. As you know, Daylight Saving Time started almost a month early this year. You would think that members of Congress would have considered the warming effect that an extra hour of daylight would have on our climate. Or did they?

Perhaps this is another plot by a liberal Congress to make us believe that global warming is a real threat. Perhaps next time there should be serious studies performed before Congress passes laws with such far-reaching effects.

Connie M. Meskimen
Hot Springs