Foreign Policy Blogs

The News Via The Blogosphere

I'm killing two birds with one stone here (even though I'm a vegetarian).  I'm going to highlight some of the more important recent stories I've not gotten to while pointing out some of the blogs I consider to be in the top tier.

Gore kick starts sweeping program to slash U.S. carbon emissions is a headline from Tuesday from the comprehensive, always informative and eminently readable DeSmogBlog.  He's getting $300 million together to convince those that yet need convincing that climate change is upon us, and needs to be mitigated sooner rather than later.  I'd be happy to have President Obama enlist the Nobel Laureate in a major effort to effect the changes we need.  (If President Clinton or President McCain wanted that, that'd be good too.)

More reasons to love Lieberman-Warner is one of the many useful things that are usually being represented at The Gristmill.  This cites an analysis by the Center for American Progress's Dan Weiss and his colleague, Alexandra Kougentakis, that S. 2191, the current vehicle for an American cap-and-trade program, would mean thousands of new jobs.  (I worked with Dan way back when he was a staffer on clean air for the Sierra Club and I was an activist.)  The Gristmill is an always stimulating blog.

Antarctic ice breakup caught on tape reads the story from the impeccable Climate Feedback, a blog from the folks at "Nature," one of the world's preeminent science publications.  Here's the poignant video clip they've got posted.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/poKX6OnehTc" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Bangkok Climate Change Talks 2008 is the lead from the Climate Science blog at the National Wildlife Federation.  This reports on the talks that are a follow on to the big meeting in Bali last December.

Soot in the Greenhouse, and Kitchen is from Andrew Revkin's Dot Earth at the "NY Times."  This highlights a story that caught my eye in which a new study identifies soot from industrial and transportation sources, and from developing world cooking practices, as having a significantly more potent impact on climate change than previously thought.  I wrote about solar box cookers, solar flashlights and innovative design for the developing world here last year.  Man, why aren't we on that?  (That's not a rhetorical question.  I'd like to know.  I'm going to be following up with some sustainable development folks before too long.) 

 

Author

Bill Hewitt

Bill Hewitt has been an environmental activist and professional for nearly 25 years. He was deeply involved in the battle to curtail acid rain, and was also a Sierra Club leader in New York City. He spent 11 years in public affairs for the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation, and worked on environmental issues for two NYC mayoral campaigns and a presidential campaign. He is a writer and editor and is the principal of Hewitt Communications. He has an M.S. in international affairs, has taught political science at Pace University, and has graduate and continuing education classes on climate change, sustainability, and energy and the environment at The Center for Global Affairs at NYU. His book, "A Newer World - Politics, Money, Technology, and What’s Really Being Done to Solve the Climate Crisis," will be out from the University Press of New England in December.



Areas of Focus:
the policy, politics, science and economics of environmental protection, sustainability, energy and climate change

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