Month: August 2011

UCLA Emmett Center Assessment of California’s Cap and Trade Regulations

In the wake of the financial market meltdown and liquidity crisis of 2008,  some opponents of a cap and trade program to regulate greenhouse gas emissions have argued that such a system could lead to the kind of market manipulation that led to the 2008 crash.  The UCLA School of Law Emmett Center on Climate Change and the Environment today released …

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Lost in the Ozone Again

Should Perry get credit for any recent downward trend ozone?The State’s reported downward trend in ozone levels began in 2006 at the earliest, whereas Perry took office in 2000 when Bush resigned.

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Enviro Videos

Public Policy Degree, a site aimed at policy students, has assembled fifty YouTube videos relating to the environment.  Besides being fun, it may give the more tech-savvy teachers among our audience some resources to include in presentations.  I noticed that one of the videos is by former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, who is now teaching …

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Stop the Presses: Los Angeles is Public-Transit Friendly (well, sort of)

The Brookings Institute has a new study out (and a really nifty interactive website) that ranks cities around the country on their public transit friendliness.  Los Angeles comes out near the top of the list by one important measure:  resident access to public transit, defined as living close to a transit stop.  96% of LA …

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The Environmental Journalism Issue in the Presidential Race

There is one enormously striking thing about the New York Times article that Dan references in the post below.  The article details how virtually all the Republican candidates have essentially declared war on the Environmental Protection Agency, claiming that environmental regulation is responsible for job losses and sluggish growth.  It also quotes people from Republicans for …

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The Environmental Issue in the Presidential Race

With the partial exception of Mitt Romney, all of the Republican presidential candidates are negative about EPA.  According to the NY TImes, Opposition to regulation and skepticism about climate change have become tenets of Republican orthodoxy, but they are embraced with extraordinary intensity this year because of the faltering economy, high fuel prices, the Tea …

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Rick Perry Should Be Confined to a Padded Room, Chapter One

Governor Rick “Crotch” Perry is somewhat of an expert at saying inane things, a trend that has accelerated since he declared his Presidential candidacy.  He flirts with secession, he accuses the Fed Chairman of treason, he was against cervical cancer before he was for it, he wants to repeal the 17th Amendment, he claims that …

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“Please Don’t Murder Me”

Musical accompaniment to Justin’s post below.  “I cut my deck to the Queen of Spades, but the cards were all the same”: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhqyg_dTaTg]   More information here.

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Guest Blogger Justin Pidot: The Gray Wolf Delisting Revisited

Last week, Holly  posted  an excellent discussion of the latest wranglings in the Fish & Wildlife Service’s ongoing effort to delist the gray wolf in the mountain west.  I share her discomfort with Congress’s decision to reinstate the delisting decision through an appropriations rider.  But stepping back from the arcane separation of powers questions dominant …

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Parking in Los Angeles Creeps into the 21st Century

The Los Angeles Times reports that the City has decided to inject at least a little rationality into its parking policy: in April, the City will begin ExpressPark, which will focus on a 4.5 square-mile zone in the city’s downtown, and will set parking rates based upon demand. It will use sensors and other technology …

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