WTF

Is this a green home?

I’m thinking about reporting on this house as an example of sensible environmental design reproducible for the masses. Can anyone help me decide? This is a press release (emphasis mine): We handle parenting author, environmentalist, and “The Crafty Mom” Mary Lyon who recently built her 6,700 square foot spectacular “green” home in Brentwood, California. Below […]

Larry Craig, oil lobbyist

Illustration by Tom Twigg/GristThis is an actual thing: Larry Craig, former punchline of Idaho, has opened a Washington consulting firm to work as an energy lobbyist. New West Strategies LLC offers “strategic advice, guidance, and advocacy” from Craig, the senator was arrested in 2007 in a sting operation against men cruising for sex at the […]

Better ways to spend $1 million on plastics

The American Chemistry Council will spend more than $1 million to fight a 20-cent fee on plastic shopping bags in Seattle, hoping voters reject the proposal in August. Or send the Bag Monster and all his friends to Copenhagen this December!Photo by Bag Monster via FlickrIf it seems absurd to spend a cool mill defending […]

Obama endorses climate bill, press corps asks about his cigarettes

President Obama gave a strong endorsement of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) at a White House press conference today, calling it “historic legislation that will transform the way we produce and use energy in America.” The White House press corps didn’t seem to notice, asking not a single question about the bill, […]

Global warming did NOT cause this plane crash

This is not helpful: As the investigation continues as to what brought down the French airliner over the Atlantic Ocean with 228 people on board, a Russian climatologist believes global warming played a significant part. Russia Today offers this steaming pile of reportage under the disingenuous headline, “Did global warming help bring down Air France […]

Eat real. Eat local. Eat … Hellmann’s Mayo?

The website is abysmal, full of Flash-animated chaos and tabs that bring up one-line slogans. The message is … twisted. For some reason, Hellmann’s Mayonnaise, a U.S.-based subsidiary of European processed-food behemoth Unilever, has seen fit to subject Canada (Canada?) to an eat-local campaign. Analyzing this bizarre development transcends my gifts as a social critic. […]

Oregon rep pens befuddling op-ed on climate legislation

Today's WTF moment sponsored by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), who writes in the Oregonian that lawmakers should abandon cap-and-trade. He says:

Despite these obvious problems, federal and state lawmakers are poised to move forward with a cap-and-trade system. I'm working in Washington to oppose this proposal and to find an alternative. One option that needs further exploration is to establish a emissions cap and to direct polluters to either reduce emissions or to purchase certified offsets (reductions from other entities) to meet emission targets.

But given the devastating impact of past deregulation on U.S. energy and financial markets, I have serious concerns about using a "market-based approach" to solve serious problems. My colleagues in Congress, and Oregon legislators, would be wise to do their homework on a cap-and-trade system before moving forward with more deregulation.

So, instead of a cap-and-trade system he wants ... a cap, and emissions credits, that can be traded. Huh.

Even more confusing? DeFazio co-sponsored the Safe Climate Act last Congress, a cap-and-trade proposal from Henry Waxman (D-Calif.).