I wrote a few days ago that the word from The Hill was that the Democrats were going to revive the rescission of tax breaks for the oil industry and try again to extend tax credits for renewables. Reuters reports that this is definitely on for after the Presidents' week break. See this in which […]
"Half the cuts in greenhouse gas emissions needed to make the world safe can be achieved at a net profit to the global economy, a study has found." That's how this article from today's "Financial Times" leads. (The threshold for "safe" is the 550 ppm of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that the IPCC posits […]
New Fund , Agence France-Presse reports G7 calls for investment to fight climate change. "The United States, Japan and Britain have proposed setting up a multilateral fund involving the World Bank that would administer global aid and investment to help nations fight slash greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming." This follows on the announcement […]
Water in the West , This is a subject of intense and enduring interest. There is a magisterial treatment of this in the book, Cadillac Desert, from 1986. A new analysis of data from researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography "shows that climate change from human activity is already disrupting water supplies in the […]
Economic Stimulus – In the U.S. Senate yesterday, they tried to get a vote on the economic stimulus package. See this from the A.P. The measure couldn’t get the votes necessary for cloture – the magic 60 necessary for a bill to be fully considered on the Senate floor. What’s this got to do with […]
Somewhat in the spirit of the "Step It Up 2007" campaign from last April in which events all over the country focused on climate change and getting Congress to act, this week a group called Focus the Nation has organized thousands of teach-ins at schools and other entities like churches and businesses. Here are links […]
The UN Process , As you know, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), located in Bonn, is the governing body for the Kyoto Protocol, its Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and much of the work that the UN does on climate change. Its executive secretary, Yvo de Boer, has this perspective on the […]
EPA's Unpopular Decision , I wrote earlier this month, here, about the lawsuit against EPA for denying California's request for a waiver to institute carbon dioxide requirements for motor vehicles sold in that state. Since, the EPA announcement and the lawsuit, there's been a flurry of activity investigating this decision. The final call by the […]
The EU's Thrust on Energy and Climate , Today the EU announced its comprehensive renewables plan. Go here for a wealth of information from them, including releases, video, speeches, key documents etc. I've talked about and will be talking more about the EU's plans. Reuters' very useful "Planet Ark" has this "factbox" on what the EU […]
So, we're back from Arizona. Observations? A few. First, sprawl and mall culture are scary, no matter how relatively upscale they're played. From a little Scottsdale-area mountain called Pinnacle Peak, you could see the surrounding country for miles. Nothing, but nothing, is built up. It's all built out. And why, I wondered, wasn't every single […]
Voluntary Offsets , So we've gone off for a visit to a resort area in Arizona, staying with a friend. What's the expenditure of GHG as a consequence of our trip? The short answer is: I have no idea. However, if I choose to "offset" the carbon "cost" of the round-trip flight from Newark to […]
I'm not entirely sure how, but I seem to have avoided one of the several six-hundred pound gorillas in the climate change room for nearly a year: nuclear power. It might have something to do with the fact that , full disclosure time , I started my environmental activist life a good long time ago […]
Insurance Losses , I've written about the insurance industry's concerns about climate change several times before , see "Insurance Industry" here for instance. See also the webpage on climate change for Lloyd's of London. Here's an article from "Forbes" that hits the point home further. "Natural disasters wrought by climate change have a staggering price […]
Quick hitter: Try this podcast from the excellent folks at Renewable Energy Access. China's surge as a renewable energy equipment manufacturer and rapidly growing consumer is one of a number of upbeat insights here. Also, here's a story on the growth of investment activity internationally from "Business Week." From the article: "Around the world, investment in […]
Energy , The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy has a concise summary of the new energy legislation here. As I've said a number of times, there's a whole truckful of good stuff in this package. One big part of the pie is geothermal and the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) has a summary here […]