John Holdren

Obama administration to put $250 million toward smart grid

As exciting as alternative energy is, all the wind turbines in the world are not going to replace dirty energy unless the power they generate can get to consumers. That requires a better, smarter power grid than the U.S. has now. The Obama administration has been reasonably supportive of that goal, packing $4.5 billion for […]

Industry-funded climate crank becomes a media darling

A new study examining TV news coverage of federal proposals to regulate global warming pollution has turned up evidence of journalistic malpractice when it comes to accurately informing viewers about one of the most critical issues of our time. It also shows how the mainstream media turned a relatively obscure climatologist into a star — […]

Putting the midterm elections in the context of the latest climate science (and life as we know it)

The election results mean it is now virtually impossible to avoid exceeding the targets set forth by the U.N. for "safe" levels of climate change.

USDA study finds that climate bill will benefit farmers

Photo: Dog CompanyThe climate and energy legislation that the House passed in June would increase revenues for farmers, according to a preliminary analysis released by the United States Department of Agriculture on Wednesday. The study contradicts claims from some major agriculture groups that the bill would be economically catastrophic for farmers. Instead, the study predicts […]

Why I’m not freaked out about the Waxman-Markey climate bill

Feeling ambivalent?Will the Waxman-Markey bill spark a full-scale energy revolution? No. Not on its own, not in the next 10-15 years. The short-term targets for reducing greenhouse gases are too low, the renewable electricity standard is too weak, too many offsets are allowed, and there’s too little investment in clean energy. To boot, there’s every […]

Obama’s voice absent from release of big climate report

The podium awaits you, sir.Courtesy JoshBerglund19 via FlickrOn a day when the executive branch released a major report on the effects of climate change already underway in the United States, where was President Obama? Not at the official release of “Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States.” Two of his top science officials, John […]

Sen. Menendez holds up science appointees to get leverage on Cuba policy

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) is reportedly holding up the confirmation of two of President Obama’s top science nominees, both of whom are expected to play key roles on climate policy. Menendez has no complaints about the qualifications of the two — physicist John Holdren, nominated to lead the White House Office of Science and Technology […]

Expanding on Barbara Boxer's principles for climate legislation

This post is by Bill Becker, Executive Director of the Presidential Climate Action Project.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, announced earlier this month that she hopes to have a cap-and-trade bill blessed by her committee by the end of the year. Her announcement left room for criticism.

Action advocates wished Boxer had been more specific about goals for reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. The Wall Street Journal posted a piece suggesting the Senator's new principles were vague and stale.

Moreover, if we want Uncle Sam to wow the world with new-found religion on climate action and to do so in time for the U.S. to take its seat at Copenhagen in a morally upright position, then a committee vote by year's end will be too little too late. A better goal would be affirmative votes by the House and Senate well before Copenhagen, along with aggressive, progressive energy legislation and continuing bold action by the Obama Administration this spring and summer.

Still, if we want principled action, then principles are a good place to start. Boxer's are as follows:

Pielke, Tierney, Lomborg, and CEI diss Obama science adviser

[Please post your response to Tierney’s column here.] Science advisor pick John Holdren gets global warming. Although he is wildly overqualified for the job compared to anybody a GOP President has named in recent memory — heck, Holdren was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science — the deniers and delayers have […]