history
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Science historian Weart on global warming
Spencer Weart: My most interesting conversations were with historians who have been studying the history of the tobacco companies that did their best, and quite successfully for many years, to cover up the fact that smoking kills people by the million. Some interesting parallels, but… So begins a fascinating interview of Weart on the illegally […]
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Oct 24, 2009 – Not just a global day of action; a historic turning point
Sarah Rifaat via 350.org Flickr Creative CommonsIf you’re still looking for a good reason to venture out and take part in an International Day of Climate Action event on Saturday, try this on for size: the day of action won’t simply be a landmark moment for the global climate movement; it could very well turn […]
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An interview with Jason Burnett, who worked on EPA greenhouse gas regulations
The following is an interview with Jason Burnett, who worked in the EPA under President GW Bush. In it, we discuss efforts by the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases. Burnett quit the EPA in protest in June 2008, alleging interference from the Office of the Vice President. The interview is meant as a supplement to […]
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New film ‘Earth Days’ takes a sometimes devastating look at the history of environmental activism
In the 1970s, just after the first Earth Day and in the midst of oil shortages, recessions, and uprisings by restless youth, politicians were suddenly expected to show concern for the environment. President Jimmy Carter went above and beyond by installing solar panels on the White House in 1979. Solar panels on the White House! […]
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Teddy Roosevelt and the search for new ‘wilderness warriors’
Theodore Roosevelt had his delicate spots—he was an asthmatic child and later a naturalist who reveled in birdwatching. But 100 years after his presidency, the image of him that endures is decidedly more swaggering—an outdoorsman who loved to hunt, a mountaineer, a populist who thundered against corporate “despoilers” of the public welfare. He also left […]
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U.S. responsible for 29 percent of CO2 emissions over past 150 years, triple China’s share
Since the mid-1800s, U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas, accounted for 29% of the global total. Those 328,000 million metric tons of cumulative emissions are the most of any country and more than three times the amount emitted by China over the same period (93,000 MtCO2), according to data from the World […]