CAFE – That stands for Corporate Average Fuel Economy. What President Obama announced today was a much higher federal requirement, negotiated with the car companies, for more miles per gallon on average for cars sold in the United States. As we know, Lower Gasoline Consumption = Lower GHG Output. How much? Billions of tons of […]
Good on ya, Mike! $50 million bucks really means something when it’s being put to good use to phase out coal-fired power plants. As an old Sierra Club activist, I was very gratified to learn that you had written a stupendous check to support one of the most effective Sierra Club campaigns ever: Beyond Coal. […]
There’s been a fair bit of fur flying as a result of Al Gore’s recent article in Rolling Stone: Climate of Denial. Most of the controversy centers around the fact that Gore calls out President Obama for not doing enough on climate change – not using his “bully pulpit.” More about that tack in a […]
I’ve written about the need we have on this small planet for convergence, including in this post, “Galloping Consumption,” from just about three years back now. The following is a great little movie, succinctly illustrating the situation. Thanks to Germanwatch for this and for all the excellent work that they do. P.S. Further to this, […]
I’m an old New Yorker man from way back. I’ve noted any number of terrific New Yorker stories here, from George Packer and Ryan Lizza on the failures of the Senate on climate and energy legislation, to the authoritative Betsy Kolbert on nearly anything and everything relative to sustainability and the environment. Hendrik Hertzberg is […]
The Danes have a lot to teach us. Samsø is a lab for the rest of the world on how to achieve carbon neutrality. Betsy Kolbert wrote a wonderful piece a couple of years ago: The Island in the Wind. And I’ve written here a few times about “convergence” and how we can have health […]
First of all, I have to apologize for not being so much in evidence here over the past couple of weeks. It’s been busy: Last weekend had three – count ’em – three birthday parties, including a big (successful) surprise for my wife with many old friends, followed the next day by a museum extravaganza […]
I’ve wondered out loud here several times about convergence – getting our galloping consumption down in the developed world while simultaneously raising the standard of living for the citizens of developing nations. You can do this a thousand different ways, most of which can “cool” the planet. One critical approach is for developing economies to […]
Vice President Al Gore, Nobel Peace Laureate, venture capitalist, author, lecturer, Academy Award winner, activist, the man Denialists love to hate, and the man some others canonize as the path-breaking visionary on the threat of global climate change, has a new book out: Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis. It has a […]
As I noted yesterday, I’ll be visiting the subject of the intersection of animal agriculture and climate change more often here. For now, I want to note two recent items, one a “NY Times” op-ed, the other a book review in the “New Yorker.” (Yes, I live in New York City.) The former, an op-ed […]
I want to flag four important major reports on the impacts from climate change. Three of these came out in June, the third a few months back. What all four do is underscore the urgency of our situation. As you know, the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change came out […]
House Floor Vote – The word from Capitol Hill is that the crucial vote on the Waxman-Markey package of energy and climate change titles is going to happen this week. The timing as Steny Hoyer indicated previously was to be sometime on either side of the July 4th recess. The word yesterday was that it […]
I touched on the massive oil prospecting and processing operations in Alberta here in February, and here a while back. (For a characteristically articulate and comprehensive overview, you can’t beat Betsy Kolbert’s “New Yorker” article, Unconventional Crude.) StatoilHydro, the Norwegian state oil and gas company, one of the biggest in the world, has a big […]
Maldives – This island nation, about a thousand miles southwest of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean, has declared its intention to become the world’s first carbon-neutral country. President Mohamed Nasheed made the announcement after a screening of the new climate change film, “The Age of Stupid.” President Nasheed has also said that he will […]
There really is a Murderer’s Row of environmentalists, renewable energy advocates and all-purpose rainbow warriors coming into the Obama administration and springing into action. The three newest additions to the team are very strong. Gina McCarthy is Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The “Hartford Courant” reports here that McCarthy is being […]