With a Week to Go, Where Do the Elections Stand?
The Presidential, Senate & House elections will have immense repercussions in terms of energy and environment.
This elections seemunusually weighty in its policy implications. In terms of energy and climate policy, the two parties parties are far apart -- Republicans favor energy dominance through massive fossil fuel production, Demorats favor clean energy. To the immense frustration of people on both sides, things haven't moved much since September, when I last wrote about the state of the race. As usual, I’m basing my assessment on two experienced prognosticators, Sabato...
CONTINUE READINGThe 2024 Election Outcome Could Boost the Case for Geoengineering
A Trump victory would increase the odds that we will ultimately need to start blocking solar radiation as a last resort to limit climate change.
The U.S. and other countries are currently stumbling their way to a sharp reduction in carbon emissions. At this point, the effort has been a mixed success. We definitely seem to be on the path to reducing emissions but having trouble doing so quickly enough. A Trump victory would set back this effort and increase the odds of very destructive impacts from global warming. We could end up with little choice but to pursue some high-risk efforts to reduce warming. Propo...
CONTINUE READINGThe Yankees Already Beat the Dodgers at One Thing
The Yankees recently dropped Hess Oil from their outfield scoreboard. But in LA, the Dodgers’ Big Oil sponsorship with 76 gas is on full display in the 2024 World Series.
The Dodgers and the Yankees in the World Series. That’s the zenith of baseball rivalries and I’m rooting for the home team. Which is why I hate to say it, but the Yankees have already beaten the boys in blue at one thing: their climate commitment. As of this season, the Yankees dropped their most visible Big Oil sponsor from the stadium scoreboard—a billboard for Hess Oil. Meanwhile, the Dodgers keep on shilling for 76 gas by putting that big orange ball l...
CONTINUE READINGAn Ethical Framework for Climate Intervention Research
Can the AGU's new principles defuse controversy and enable responsible research?
Research into climate intervention techniques, especially solar geoengineering, has long been controversial. Scientists as well as publics and policy makers have been divided on its risks and merits. In recent years, experiments proposed or undertaken in the USA, Sweden and Mexico have triggered vociferous opposition. Growing and unregulated commercial interest in the technologies seems likely to further polarize debate. In this context a new initiative by the AGU to ...
CONTINUE READINGSix Sleeper Proposals in Project 2025
Project 2025 isn’t just its headline proposals. It’s a thorough, detailed attack on environmental protection.
The Project 2025 report is 920 pages long, but only a few portions have gotten much public attention. The report’s significance is precisely that it goes beyond a few headline proposals to set a comprehensive agenda for a second Trump Administration. There are dozens of significant proposals relating to energy and the environment. Although I can’t talk about all of them here, I want to flag a few of these sleeper provisions. But does Project 2025 even matter, you ...
CONTINUE READINGNew Environmental Laws Focus on Public Health
Many of the environmental-focused bills that the governor signed this year involve ways to alleviate the health disparities faced by frontline communities.
The California State Legislature is now finally in its off-season. Governor Newsom had until Monday, September 30th to sign or veto bills that the legislature passed and sent to his desk. In a final tally of bills, according to CalMatters, Governor Newsom vetoed approximately 18% of the nearly 1,000 bills that landed on his desk in the final days of session, or close to 1 in 5 bills. Taking into consideration all the bills presented throughout the year, the overall veto ...
CONTINUE READINGThe Dangerous Embrace of Convenient Narratives Over Inconvenient Truths
As it turns out, Nature doesn’t care what stories you post on social media or spin on TV.
Conservative critics and others have argued for years that theories popular in universities such as critical legal theory undermine the idea of truth in favor of storytelling. Ironically, it has turned out that the problem is far greater on the Right than the Left. This is not only destructive to democracy. It also encourages conspiracy theories and hate speech, like a recent spate of antisemitic attacks on officials at FEMA. The problem on the Right has long been...
CONTINUE READINGGovernors Present Bold Vision for Investing in a New Forest Economy
As global leaders gather in Cali for COP16 and devastating fires continue across the Amazon, we should look to subnational groups for solutions to both the climate and biodiversity loss crisis.
The world has continued to watch as fires burn – yet again - across much of the Amazon basin. With historic droughts and ongoing lack of resources to tackle these fires and their underlying causes, they have ravaged millions of hectares of forests, communities, and wildlife habitat in Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, and beyond. These fires, often deliberately set as part of land clearing efforts for cattle or agriculture, are becoming even more intense in the face of the climat...
CONTINUE READINGWe Need a Circular Economy for EV Batteries
California got close to making suppliers ensure EV batteries are managed responsibly at end of life. Here’s why 2025 should be the year California creates a circular economy for EV batteries.
California continues to make significant headway toward its target to eliminate in-state sales of new internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035. About one in five new cars sold in California are battery-powered. And it’s not just California: Battery-powered car sales are up globally, with projections showing 17 million will be sold worldwide in 2024. As EVs proliferate, so will demand for the critical minerals that power their batteries. But mining for those e...
CONTINUE READINGStill Crazy After All These Years
There's been an alarming growth of conspiracy theories, often antisemitic ones, to explain extreme weather events.
Was a powerful political conspiracy behind Hurricane Helene? You might think that no one would believe anything that crazy. You would be wrong. This post by a conspiracist about Hurricane Helene got 11 million views: “Don’t worry guys, weather modification isn’t real! It’s just a coincidence that Hurricane Helene is one of the most devastating 'inland damage storms' in history and that hundreds of pro-Trump counties are being massively impacted during the m...
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