Month: April 2010
20-year whaling moratorium on the chopping block
You wouldn’t know it from the headline of this week’s NYT article (“US Leads New Bid to Phase Out Whale Hunting,”) but the worldwide commercial-whaling moratorium that has been in place since 1986 is under seige. Countries are meeting this week to work out details of a deal in which the world’s three leading whaling …
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CONTINUE READINGGleick’s New Water Blog
Readers with an interest in water issues should take a look at Peter Gleick‘s new blog with the SF Chronicle. Gleick is the head of the Pacific Institute — and, I’m happy to say, an ERG graduate.
CONTINUE READINGIs Solar Power a Greyer Shade of Green?
Talk about green power is often colorblind, minimizing the darker side of the technologies. Land use and ecological concerns are sometimes raised about wind and solar, but we don’t often hear about the toxics and occupational health issues raised by these renewable energy sources. In 2009, the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition issued its a report–Toward …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Sting of the Long Tail: Climate Change, Delayed Harm, and Backlash
In the comments to Ann’s earlier post, the question was raised as to why global temperatures haven’t declined in response to the decline in carbon dioxide emissions from Europe in the past year. I made a quick response to this question in the comments, but I wanted to elaborate on that response here. What follow …
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CONTINUE READINGGambling on Climate Change
Paul Krugman had a great article about climate change in the NY Times magazine on Sunday. It provides a really useful primer on the economics of climate change. In particular, Krugman emphasizes that uncertainty is a reason for action, not a reason to to allow unchecked global warming: We’re uncertain about the magnitude of climate …
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CONTINUE READINGJustice Stevens: Architect of Modern Environmental Law Doctrine
Justice Stevens was responsible for key environmental decisions. He emphasized that EPA and Congress, not the courts, were the key policymakers on environmental questions, as against conservatives judges who have tried to implement their own policy views instead.
CONTINUE READINGInteresting Lessons from the EU Cap and Trade Scheme
In a really interesting recent post by Sandbag, a UK-based organization that buys and retires credits from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, the organization analyzed newly released 2009 data about drops in the emissions covered by the EU scheme. On the good news front, emissions that are covered by the EU scheme have dropped 17 …
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CONTINUE READINGAlaska aborts anti-ESA ad campaign
In February, Alaska lawmakers decided to launch a $1.5 million public relations campaign against the Endangered Species Act, and specifically against the listing of the polar bear as a threatened species. Later, they toned it down a bit, planning to use the money to hold a conference on polar bear listing and ask PR firms …
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CONTINUE READINGLet’s Not Play the Blame Game Here.
I feel that it is important to take a clear position regarding Jonathan’s post this morning, which related to an alleged comment attributed by the press to me regarding a potential Supreme Court appointment. Candor is critical. Were mistakes made? Yes. Have we taken corrective action? Yes. The staff member responsible for the alleged comment …
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CONTINUE READINGSCOTUS Sweepstakes!
With the retirement of the 89-year-old John Paul Stevens, looking imminent, it’s time for the Great Mentioner to, well, start mentioning. Legal Planet’s own great mentioner, Dan Farber, commenting at TPM about the possibility of Solicitor General Elena Kagan getting the nod, observes “It would be hard for Republicans to explain how they voted to …
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