Year: 2013
Why it’s important that we know that we’re at 400 ppm of CO2
A major (and unfortunate) milestone has been crossed this past week. Measurements of atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide passed 400 parts per million, the highest in millions of years. Others have commented on how worrying this milestone is for the planet. But what I want to focus on here is how important it is that …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Insurance Industry Helps Us to Adapt to Climate Change
The NY Times reports that insurance rates are rising in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy for coastal communities. As I argued back in 2010 in my Climatopolis book, such “price gouging” is good! If insurance markets are competitive, then the rates that insurance companies charge households who seek home insurance will reflect the best …
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CONTINUE READINGWARNING: Individual Research Findings and Economic Models May Not Be Fully Grounded.
A couple of weeks ago, a major paper on the economics of government deficits turned out to have huge flaws. Matt and Jonathan have already had something to say about this, but I’d like to add some thoughts about the implications for environmental issues.“Interesting,” you say, “But what does that have to do with the …
CONTINUE READINGAlberta, Open Sewers and the Keystone Pipeline
Al Gore raised the hackles of the Canadian government this week when he criticized the country’s large scale extraction of oil from the Alberta tar sands. The tar sand oil reserves are among the world’s largest but are particularly energy intensive to extract. That means that extracting oil that will then be burned will emit significantly …
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CONTINUE READINGNiall Ferguson, Climate Smear Artist
Big kerfluffle over the weekend concerning remarks by right-wing Harvard Professor Niall Ferguson, who claimed that Keynesian economics is not concerned about the future because Keynes himself was gay and didn’t have children. Now, not only is this bigoted, but it is untrue on its own terms: Keynes was married, he was childless because his …
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CONTINUE READINGEric Cantor Leads the Anti-NSF Chorus
Eric Cantor, the House Majority Leader, is rounding up the good citizens of the country for a campaign against those evil scientists who are wasting society’s money. Just check out his YouCut website, which tries to crowd source the search for suspect research funding by NSF. He admits NSF does fund some worthwhile research: including “more …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Roberts Court’s Corporate Romance
Forty years ago, before going on the Supreme Court, Lewis Powell wrote a call to arms for business interests, calling on them to counter “enemies of the free enterprise system” like Ralph Nader. Among other things, he recommended a concerted campaign to influence the courts. The campaign seems to have been a success. The NY Times …
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CONTINUE READINGChina’s New Environmental Courts
Pollution in China has been much in the news recently, from premature deaths caused by air pollution to news of thousands of dead pigs found in a Shanghai river. Could law help solve China’s environmental problems? My recent post on China Dialogue takes a look at what China’s new environmental courts have been able to accomplish so far.
CONTINUE READINGThe problem of stale NEPA reviews
There’s been a mini-boom in uranium mining in the United States, in part because of increased interest in nuclear power as a partial response to climate change. Using nuclear power to reduce greenhouse gases has been quite controversial because of the obvious risks that nuclear power poses (exemplified by the Fukushima disaster in Japan). But …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Tea Party, the GOP, and the Environment
According to a recent study, non-Tea Party members of the GOP are actually a bit closer to Democrats than to Tea Party members on environmental issues. That creates a conundrum for the GOP. More than half of Republicans support the Tea Party, and supporters tend to be more active than others. Yet the Tea Party …
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