Climate Politics
All Stories
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Merkel, May I?
E.U., Germany duke it out over auto emissions standards Once upon a time, the European Union proposed a carbon-dioxide emissions limit on all vehicles made or imported there. But Germany — home of Volkswagen, BMW, DaimlerChrysler, and Porsche — has yanked on the e-brake. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the country would not support a […]
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GOP strategist Frank Luntz argues enviros are failing — and they’re mean to boot
Frank Luntz, the famed Republican pollster and messaging consultant who helped to shape Newt Gingrich’s 1994 Contract With America, thinks environmentalists are mean. Frank Luntz. The author of a new guidebook on politically effective language, Words That Work: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear, Luntz is credited with popularizing use of the […]
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Giant Pander
Bush concentrates more rule-making power in the hands of political appointees A new executive order from President Bush will give political appointees much more power over rules and guidance documents related to the environment, public health, civil rights, and other areas — power previously held by lame old scientists and civil servants. As The New […]
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Grandchildren, Schmandchildren
Congress holds hearings, realizes climate change is upon us It’s official: Congress has red-hot climate-change ants in its pants. As climate-related hearings in the House and Senate got rolling this week, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) demanded White House documents that could show scientific interference. With a new report by two NGOs citing more than 120 […]
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Leader Hosin’
Bush State of the Union address offers tepid energy initiatives Today we have the high privilege and distinct honor of blurbing the State of the Union address. It was largely a muted, desultory affair, reflecting the fact that President Bush is trapped in a foreign quagmire, his Republican congressional bootlickers are abandoning him, and the […]
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Why federal farm support deserves a fresh look
Note: Over the course of three weeks, as Congress begins discussion of the 2007 farm bill, Victual Reality will be devoted to analyzing the political economy of farming and teasing out an agenda for a socially and environmentally sustainable farm policy. It’s more exciting than it sounds, we swear! [Read the first installment below, the […]
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Coolio
Here’s an interesting bit from a Q&A with Reid and Pelosi: I have a couple questions about global warming. First, to Mr. Reid, does the Senate plan to follow Ms. Pelosi’s plan to create a new select committee? Will you actually create a new select committee? And then for both of you, I’m curious, you’ve […]
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The Neverending Tory
Canada’s leaders bring back green program, announce rainforest fund When Canada’s Conservative Party took power a year ago, Prime Minister Stephen Harper put a variety of environmental programs on hold — only to find out that, oops, his constituents actually want a livable earth. Under pressure from citizens Canuck, Harper’s cabinet is hyping green initiatives […]
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A Speechwriter Behind Every Bush
Content of State of the Union speech remains a mystery — kind of Will President Bush crack down on climate change in his State of the Union address? The world may never know — until, of course, he gives the speech next Tuesday. Mutterings that the administration would embrace a cap-and-trade carbon-reduction scheme were flatly […]
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Is This What the Kids Call Progress?
A slew of new climate legislation heads to Congress What a difference an election makes. After years of see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, be-really-evil, Congress is abuzz with forward movement on climate change. No less than four bills on climate look poised to go before the Senate, with big names like Sens. McCain, Obama, Boxer, and Feinstein jostling […]
