Month: November 2010
Jerry Brown and the Environment
During the campaign, Jerry Brown stressed environmental issues. His campaign website has a very extensive list of proposed environmental policies. It’ no surprise that he favors AB 32 and renewable energy, as well as vigorous enforcement of other existing environmental laws. Some of the other policies are a little less familiar. Here are some that …
Continue reading “Jerry Brown and the Environment”
CONTINUE READINGPolar bear listing remanded
The headline might not sound like it, but this is good news for environmentalists. The Endangered Species Act provides legal protections for two categories of species: those that are “endangered,” defined as in danger of extinction throughout at least a significant portion of their range; and those that are “threatened,” defined as likely to become …
Continue reading “Polar bear listing remanded”
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia full-steam-ahead on cap and trade
Whether or not Californians focused on climate change in voting on Proposition 23 (as Ann and Sean discuss), their rejection of 23 means full steam ahead on climate change regulation. Notably, while the rest of the country leaps back from cap and trade (here’s Obama throwing it under the bus in his post-election comments), California …
Continue reading “California full-steam-ahead on cap and trade”
CONTINUE READINGProp 23 and What It Says (Or Doesn’t) About Californians’ View of Climate Change
What conclusion should we draw from the drubbing that California gave to Prop. 23, the ballot measure that would have overturned our landmark Global Warming Solutions Act? Andrew Leonard at Salon applauds our voters for affirming “their commitment to tackling the challenge of climate change and our dependence on fossil fuels.” But Sean, in his …
Continue reading “Prop 23 and What It Says (Or Doesn’t) About Californians’ View of Climate Change”
CONTINUE READINGDoes Proposition 26 Undermine California’s Climate Change Law?
No. Not at all. Legally, we are still all systems go for AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act. First, take a look at the careful analysis that Cara, Sean, and Rhead produced a couple of weeks ago. It notes one extremely important fact about Proposition 26: its retroactive provisions only go back to January 2010, and AB 32 was …
Continue reading “Does Proposition 26 Undermine California’s Climate Change Law?”
CONTINUE READINGElection review: what message did voters send about the environment, and how will politicians react?
It’s natural, in reflecting on the recent election, to ask whether and to what extent the results reflect public values about protection of the environment. (Well, at least for me, since I spend my time thinking about these things.) My answer: not much. But the election’s impacts on environmental issues will still be significant. While …
CONTINUE READINGFunny, It Doesn’t Look Bluish
The initial results in California last night make it seem like a sane drop of blue in the country. Jerry Brown won for Governor; Barbara Boxer was re-elected; and Proposition 23, which would have reversed the state’s landmark climate change law, was resoundingly defeated. Voters also approved Proposition 25, which allows the state budget to be …
Continue reading “Funny, It Doesn’t Look Bluish”
CONTINUE READINGTipping Points and Feedback Effects
From the title, this could be a posting about the election results. It isn’t — although I do wonder whether the relatively rapid changes we’ve seen in the House over the past decade are a sign of increased feedback effects. My topic, however, is climate science. The curve at the left shows how feedback effects …
Continue reading “Tipping Points and Feedback Effects”
CONTINUE READINGTop Ten Reasons To Vote Against Proposition 23
10. To send the nasty Koch brothers a message to stay out of California politics. 9. To send the nasty Texas-based Valero oil company a message to stay out of California politics. 8. To send the nasty Texas-based Tessoro oil company a message to stay out of California politics. 7. To send Meg Whitman a …
Continue reading “Top Ten Reasons To Vote Against Proposition 23”
CONTINUE READINGWhat Would Conservative Environmental Policy Look Like?
Now that the Republican Party is set to take control of the House, and maybe the Senate, we might want to ask what we might mean by a “conservative” environmental policy. I was thinking about this question the other day, and then by chance came across this passage from Russell Kirk’s major work, The Conservative …
Continue reading “What Would Conservative Environmental Policy Look Like?”
CONTINUE READING