The Climate Desk
In This Series
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The climate war’s western front
Gov. Schwarzenegger at a press conference. Photo: Office of the GovernorThe latest California ballot measure to make a national splash addresses neither marijuana nor gay marriage, but an even more contentious issue these days: cap-and-trade. Proposition 23 would suspend California’s statewide cap-and-trade plan, currently scheduled to take full effect in 2012, until unemployment drops to […]
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The mystery BP Twitterer revealed!
Leroy Stick is the brains behind a fake BP Twitter account called BPGlobalPR that’s racked up more than 180,000 followers. Need to Know‘s Erin Chapman grabbed an exclusive on-camera interview with him at the TEDxOilSpill conference. Stick (an alias) began feeding his updates to humor-starved news junkies on May 19 and — like the oil […]
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Why drilling moratoriums are a ‘morally false choice’ [VIDEO]
Should offshore drilling be banned? Jon Meacham of PBS’s Need to Know asked Lisa Margonelli, who writes about the global culture and economy of energy, at Monday’s TEDx Oil Spill conference. She explains her view that Americans don’t have a right to drive cars and use gasoline unless we’re willing to drill for it in […]
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How green was my organic milk? A podcast with author Heather Rogers
Heather RogersThink you’re saving the environment by buying organic or fueling your car with corn oil? Heather Rogers, author of Green Gone Wrong: How Our Economy Is Undermining the Environmental Revolution, says that “green” products aren’t always as environmentally responsible as they appear. In this PBS interview with Need to Know host Alison Stewart, she […]
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‘Reasonably high’ chance BP files for bankruptcy
Bankruptcy expert Peter S. KaufmanPhoto: Gordian GroupThere is a reasonably high chance that BP could file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the next few years, or even months, and the result would be an “absolute horror” for the government, according to a bankruptcy expert. Peter S. Kaufman, the President of investment bank Gordian Group and […]
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Will the new climate bill damage U.S. energy security?
This piece was co-authored by Michael A. Levi of the Council on Foreign Relations. Few groups have been more strident in their opposition to cap-and-trade legislation than the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Last year, four prominent members of the powerful business lobby, including Exelon Corp. and Pacific Gas & Electric, quit on account of its […]
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Can global warming give you kidney stones?
The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp by Rembrandt van RijnPhoto: Wikimedia Commons. The 1995 Chicago heat wave was one of the most brutal weather events the United States has ever experienced. On July 13, the thermostat hit 106 degrees F. Many of the city’s poor and elderly residents had no air conditioning; many of […]
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What climate change means for the wine industry
John Williams has been making wine in California’s Napa Valley for nearly 30 years, and he farms so ecologically that his peers call him Mr. Green. But if you ask him how climate change will affect Napa’s world famous wines, he gets irritated, almost insulted. “You know, I’ve been getting that question a lot recently, […]
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Will an SEC ruling convert short-term greed into long-term sustainability? [UPDATED WITH TRANSCRIPT]
I know. I know. Securities and Exchange Commission: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. But the SEC did something sort of landmark last January: in a 3-2 vote, commissioners approved guidelines that urge companies to regularly disclose climate change-related risks (and opportunities) to investors. If you’re a big box store importing underwear from China, or an insurance company indemnifying coastal […]
