Sorry, dear readers, about not being on the blogwaves in the past few days. I plead the press of work and beg your kind indulgence. Here are a couple of quick hitters for now. I do hope to have some heftier posts for you soon. Biofuels and Food – Here’s a leader (Britspeak for editorial) […]
I wrote about one of the several climate change six-hundred pound gorillas at King Coal in November. There was a hard-hitting piece in yesterday’s “Progress Report” called Bad News For Big Coal. (Fair warning: “Progress Report” is a newsletter of the avowedly partisan Center for American Progress, which I’ve noted before, along with the fact […]
Tropical Forest Loss , Following on my last post (see below) about the destruction of hugely productive carbon sinks for conversion to cropland for the production of biofuel feedstocks, it is relevant to see the testimony from three very worthy leaders in the fight against rainforest loss. The House of Representatives' Select Committee on Energy […]
Two recent important studies, published in “Science,” are saying that biofuels are causing quite a bit more harm than good. The A.P.’s H. Josef Hebert wrote this article (appearing in “USA Today”) on one of the studies. “The researchers said that farmers under economic pressure to produce biofuels will increasingly “plow up more forest or […]
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 […]