Climate Politics

The first pres. candidate to make the pledge

According to an account from an appearance at Howard University, John Edwards has become the first presidential candidate to publicly pledge to the target of reducing U.S. GHG emissions by 80% by 2050. That’s the baseline. Who else will step up?

I Think I Can’t, I Think I Can’t

Automakers tell Congress why fuel-economy improvements won’t work Congress hosted a few more cranky white men yesterday, as the CEOs of Chrysler, Ford, GM, and Toyota’s North American division appeared before a House subcommittee to explain why they couldn’t possibly raise fuel-economy standards. Joined by the head of the United Auto Workers, the churlish chiefs […]

Take That, Iowa

New Hampshire towns send climate-change message to feds The votes are in, and the message is clear: New Hampshire is peeved about global warming. Nearly 90 towns approved a nonbinding resolution at their annual meetings this week telling the feds to act on climate change and harrumphing that presidential candidates should make it a priority […]

Gore looks to Capitol lawn for U.S. Live Earth concert

On 7/7/07, Al Gore hopes to rock the House. Yes, that’s House with a capital "h." Gore’s first choice for hosting the U.S. Live Earth concerts was the 300-acre National Mall, but turns out it’s double-booked already. The official National Mall Dayplanner says "annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival" and "rally by a religious group" (no details […]

Not So Fast

Environmentalists take EPA, Interior Department to task Remember when U.S. agencies used to be able to get away with their nefarious eco-deeds? Like, for the last seven years or so? The times might just be changing. Deed one: the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management decided, after 20 years, to reactivate 23 drilling leases in […]

A Little Light Music

U.S., E.U. push phaseout of incandescent bulbs, U.K. gets serious about carbon The world is seeing the energy-efficient light: a U.S. coalition including Philips Lighting and the Natural Resources Defense Council will push to phase out incandescent bulbs by 2016. And following the lead of Australia and California, European Union leaders have proposed ditching the […]

She prefers a ‘people’s waterfront’

Seattle is facing a difficult decision: what to do with a crumbling highway that serves as a major north-south corridor through the city? Below, we hear from Cary Moon. Cary is a landscape and urban designer and co-founder of the People’s Waterfront Coalition. The PWC’s No-Highway option won second prize in a national design competition […]

She says no and hell no

Seattle is facing a difficult decision: what to do with a crumbling highway that serves as a major north-south corridor through the city? Below, we hear from Erica C. Barnett. Erica is the senior news writer for Seattle’s alternative newsweekly, The Stranger, where she covers City Hall and transportation, writes a weekly politics column, and […]

Because local transportation choices aren’t local any more

As Bradley noted below, the citizens of Seattle face a dilemma. The Alaskan Way Viaduct — an elevated highway that enters Seattle on its west flank, offering stunning views (to drivers) of the city and the waterfront — is falling apart. There’s real danger that an earthquake, or just Father Time, could send it tumbling […]

The last to react

We all know and love the "canary in a coal mine" analogy, where the canary is a first warning sign of some potential catastrophe. The Arctic is a good example of a canary for climate change, since we expect (and indeed see) the effects of climate change there first.

Then there's the anti-canary. Rather than being the first to react, the anti-canary is the last. When the anti-canary moves on an issue, you know that everyone else has already moved.

In the climate change debate, Texas is the anti-canary. With the Governor, Lt. Governor, and other senior legislators arguing that the science is not proven, Texas has been stuck in neutral on this issue while other states have taken the lead. But there are indications that the anti-canary is beginning to take climate change seriously.